IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esconf/341696.html

The Nexus Between Technology and Economic Development in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Tudorache, Maria-Daniela
  • Jianu, Ionut

Abstract

Over the last two decades, technological progress has significantly transformed economic and social structures, making innovation and digitalization essential drivers of competitiveness and sustainable growth. However, EU still lags behind the US in terms of innovation, research and development expenditure. This paper examines the relationship between technological factors and economic development in European Union Member States. The analysis is based on panel data covering 2010-2024, with an effective estimation sample of 2012-2024 due to lag structure and first difference transformations to improve the model accuracy. The analysis applies the Panel Estimated Generalized Least Squares (EGLS) method, using Period SUR as GLS weights option and as a coefficient covariance method. The results identify positive and significant associations between the research and development expenditure / employment in technology and knowledge intensive sectors and GDP per capita. In contrast, unemployment shows a negative relationship with economic performance. These findings highlight the important role of innovation and knowledge-based sectors in supporting economic growth and competitiveness within the European Union. The results suggest that research and development activities are associated with higher levels of economic development across the European Union. This finding is particularly relevant in the current context, given that the European Union has consistently failed to meet its R&D expenditure targets throughout the 2010-2024 period, with the share of R&D expenditure in GDP increasing by only 0.25 percentage points over the last 15 years. We also calculated the impact of greenhouse gas emissions per capita on GDP per capita, which was found to be positive, indicating the short-run cost of the green transition, as well as the negative effect of the major COVID-19 restriction on GDP per capita.

Suggested Citation

  • Tudorache, Maria-Daniela & Jianu, Ionut, 2026. "The Nexus Between Technology and Economic Development in the European Union," EconStor Conference Papers 341696, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esconf:341696
    DOI: 10.24818/BASIQ/2026/12/029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/341696/1/Nexus-Technology-Economic-Development-in-EU.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.24818/BASIQ/2026/12/029?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Acaravci, Ali & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2010. "On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5412-5420.
    2. Ozturk, Ilhan & Acaravci, Ali, 2010. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in Turkey," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 3220-3225, December.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Ufuk Akcigit & Harun Alp & Nicholas Bloom & William Kerr, 2018. "Innovation, Reallocation, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(11), pages 3450-3491, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hamit-Haggar, Mahamat, 2012. "Greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: A panel cointegration analysis from Canadian industrial sector perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 358-364.
    2. Nhat Minh Tran, 2022. "CEO and Chairperson Characteristics and Corporate Environmental Performance: A Study of Cooperatives in Vietnam," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    3. Usman, Muhammad & Khalid, Khaizran & Mehdi, Muhammad Abuzar, 2021. "What determines environmental deficit in Asia? Embossing the role of renewable and non-renewable energy utilization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1165-1176.
    4. Magazzino, Cosimo & Drago, Carlo & Schneider, Nicolas, 2023. "Evidence of supply security and sustainability challenges in Nigeria’s power sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Kyoung-Min Lim & Seul-Ye Lim & Seung-Hoon Yoo, 2014. "Oil Consumption, CO 2 Emission, and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Philippines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-13, February.
    6. Cerdeira Bento, João Paulo, 2014. "The determinants of CO2 emissions: empirical evidence from Italy," MPRA Paper 59166, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Lei, Xiying & Alharthi, Majed & Ahmad, Ishtiaq & Aziz, Babar & Abdin, Zain ul, 2022. "Importance of international relations for the promotion of renewable energy, preservation of natural resources and environment: Empirics from SEA nations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 1250-1257.
    8. Asongu, Simplice & Odhiambo, Nicholas, 2020. "Trade and FDI Thresholds of CO2 emissions for a Green Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 107494, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Philip O. Alege & Oluwasogo S. Adediran & Adeyemi A. Ogundipe, 2016. "Pollutant Emissions, Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in Nigeria," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, vol. 6(2), pages 202-207.
    10. Seker, Fahri & Ertugrul, Hasan Murat & Cetin, Murat, 2015. "The impact of foreign direct investment on environmental quality: A bounds testing and causality analysis for Turkey," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 347-356.
    11. Al Mamun, Md. & Sohag, Kazi & Hannan Mia, Md. Abdul & Salah Uddin, Gazi & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2014. "Regional differences in the dynamic linkage between CO2 emissions, sectoral output and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-11.
    12. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    13. Cuma Bozkurt & Yusuf Akan, 2014. "Economic Growth, CO2 Emissions and Energy Consumption: The Turkish Case," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, vol. 4(3), pages 484-494.
    14. Ben Jebli, Mehdi & Ben Youssef, Slim, 2015. "The environmental Kuznets curve, economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy, and trade in Tunisia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 173-185.
    15. Shixiang Li & Jianru Shi & Qiaosheng Wu, 2020. "Environmental Kuznets Curve: Empirical Relationship between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in Upper-Middle-Income Regions of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-27, September.
    16. Wei, Zhao & Huang, Lihua, 2022. "Does renewable energy matter to achieve sustainable development? Fresh evidence from ten Asian economies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 759-767.
    17. Chong Wang & Peter W Cardon & Jing Liu & Ghulam Rasool Madni, 2020. "Social and economic factors responsible for environmental performance: A global analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    18. Al-mulali, Usama & Binti Che Sab, Che Normee, 2012. "The impact of energy consumption and CO2 emission on the economic and financial development in 19 selected countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4365-4369.
    19. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    20. Bastola, Umesh & Sapkota, Pratikshya, 2015. "Relationships among energy consumption, pollution emission, and economic growth in Nepal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 254-262.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:esconf:341696. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.