Economic growth in six ASEAN countries: are energy, human capital and financial development playing major roles?

Abstract This study aims to investigate whether energy consumption, human capital and financial development played an important role in economic growth using a panel dataset of six ASEAN countries over the period 1995–2017. Various econometric techniques—the cross-sectional dependence, panel unit root, panel cointegration, long-run panel estimates, and panel Granger causality tests—are applied. The results of panel data analyses show that all the selected variables positively contribute to the economic growth of the countries. However, all the six ASEAN countries still rely primarily on physical capital and labour for their economic growth. The findings of country-wise tests indicate that there exists a positive relationship between economic growth and financial development in Cambodia, while human capital positively contributes to the economic growth of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The causality test exhibits unidirectional causality from energy consumption to economic growth and from economic growth to financial development in both the short and long run. The findings suggest that inclusive development strategies that provide the opportunity for all sectors to grow will result in the desirable three e’s of sustainable economic development: equitable, effective and efficient