Dynamic Asymmetries in the Electric Consumption of the GCC countries

Abstract

This paper aims to achieve two fundamental objectives. First, we examine whether the electric consumption of the GCC countries exhibit any form of non-linearity that is of economic interest. In this context, we use the BDS test in order to determine the absence or presence of linear or nonlinear dependence. The test results indicate that there is a substantial nonlinear dependence in all the series of the countries in the region. In the second objective, we investigate the asymmetric properties of the electric consumption of these countries. In particular, we explore two types of asymmetry: deepness and steepness. The test results indicate that there is a strong corroborative evidence of asymmetric deepness and steepness relative to trend in these countries’ electric consumption variable. Keywords: Electric Consumption; Business cycle Asymmetry; GCC Countries JEL Classifications:  E21; E32