Does economic growth respond to electricity consumption asymmetrically in Bangladesh? The implication for environmental sustainability.

This study is noteworthy because both industrial and residential sectors in Bangladesh use a significant amount of electricity for various purposes. Thus, it motivates us to examine the asymmetric impacts of electricity consumption on economic growth in Bangladesh by using the Non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model over the annual data of 1971–2014. After confirming the long-run asymmetric cointegration between the series, the long-run result indicates that economic growth responds to electricity consumption asymmetrically in Bangladesh. The long-run result also indicates the dominant effect of negative shocks in electricity consumption over its positive shocks while affecting the economic growth in Bangladesh. Therefore, the policies to tackle the issues of economic growth unsustainability and ecological grief should not underestimate the long-run asymmetric effects of electricity consumption on economic growth in Bangladesh. • Asymmetric impacts of electricity consumption on economic growth are examined. • Employs Nonlinear-ARDL model for Bangladesh relying on annual data 1971–2014. • The study confirms the long-run asymmetric cointegration between the series. • The negative shocks in electricity use affect GDP more than its positive shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]