Publication: Long-Run Impacts of Energy Prices on Consumer Spending
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2025-12-22
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2026-01-06
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This analysis deploys the concept of national energy cost share, a practical indicator that measures the ratio of energy costs to gross domestic product (GDP), and uses a dataset covering 142 countries over a 40-year period. It examines how national energy cost shares evolve in response to changes in energy prices and economic activity, as well as the influence of energy efficiency policies and macroeconomic characteristics. Three types of analysis were performed: a descriptive overview of the historical patterns of energy prices and energy cost shares to explore how they change over the same period; an econometric estimation of the elasticity of energy cost shares with respect to economic output and energy prices; and an assessment of whether, and how, the response of energy cost shares to energy prices varies according to certain economy and energy efficiency policy characteristics.
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Paolo Agnolucci, Vincenzo De Lipsis, Defne Gencer, Abraham Lartey, and Michael Grubb. 2025. Long-Run Impacts of Energy Prices on Consumer Spending. Energy Subsidy Reform in Action Series. ESMAP Technical Report. Washington DC: World Bank. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO
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