ENERGY PRICE FLUCTUATIONS AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN NIGERIA
Abstract
The study examined the role of energy price fluctuations in widening economic inequality across generations in Nigeria from 1985 to 2023 using data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin, World Development Indicators, International Energy Agency and Worldwide Governance Indicators (2023) publications. Economic inequality served as the dependent variable, while oil price, gas price, expenditure on social welfare and control of corruption were utilized as the explanatory variables. The Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test was used to ascertain the stationarity of the model, and it was discovered that the variables were integrated at first difference, I(1). Consequently, the Johansen co-integration test was employed to ascertain the long-run relationship of the variables. The results from both the Trace statistics and Max-Eigen statistics showed that there was no co-integration, hence establishing no long-run relationship between energy price fluctuations variables and economic inequality in Nigeria. The econometric diagnostics utilized the GARCH model, and the findings of the study do not provide strong evidence that energy price fluctuations significantly influence economic inequality across generations in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that exploring alternative factors may provide insights into the drivers of economic inequality in Nigeria, even if energy price fluctuations do not show a significant direct impact.
JEL: C22, C82, H2, H24, H24
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejefr.v9i4.2043
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