Spatial Evolution of the Energy and Economic Centers of Gravity

Abstract

Increasing energy demand and economic performance can be observed in emerging markets and, in parallel, their share in world energy use and in global GDP is growing as well. It causes significant spatial shifts and calls attention for a new geography of energy demand. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the spatial distribution of energy use and economic growth focusing on the link between them. Developing gravity models, we identify the economic and energy centres of gravity in the world and on different continents and reveal their movements between 1990 and 2015, in particular, the directions of the shifts. Bi-dimensional regression analysis and the method of standard distance are applied to compare these movements. The study utilizes cartograms to visualize how the space is changed and distorted by the field of force. It can be stated that the economic and energy centre of gravity can be found in the Mediterranean Basin, but a slow and gradual shift to the east can be observed. Currently it reflects the dominance of the north, but it marks the position loss of the northern hemisphere and the greater importance of developing economies (in the southern hemisphere).

Influence of Energy Sector Corporations on the Corporate Control Functions of Cities

“…In this context, energy use forecasts driven by population and manufacturing growth are likely no longer accurate (eg. Benalcazar et al, 2017;Tóth and Szép, 2019). Forecasts will need to be revised, which in itself is a research issue.…”

“…There do exist detailed analyses of the command and control (C&C) function of cities relative to the R&D sector, for example (Tóth and Csomós, 2016), however, there are no detailed analyses for other sectors generating this function. Given that the energy sector plays a substantial role in the generation of the command and This Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License control function of cities and demand for energy is growing at different rates across the world (Tóth and Szép, 2019), it is reasonable to examine this issue in greater detail. Hence, the purpose of the study was to determine the financial position of the largest firms in the energy sector versus that for other sectors as well as to assess their significance in the generation of cities' command and control function in the period 2006-2018.…”

Energy–Growth Nexus in the MENA Region: A Dynamic Panel Threshold Estimation

“…The question is how energy use in the MENA region relates to economic growth, because energy is such an important part of the production process in any economy, although the energy usage projection is hard to predict due to various uncertainty of the external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and other crisis episodes [23]. As a result, many empirical studies in the MENA region have examined the link and causal relationship between energy use and economic growth [19,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

The Role of the Energy Sector in the Command and Control Function of Cities in Conditions of Sustainability Transitions

“…Thus, energy usage forecasts created prior to the pandemic may be inaccurate. The various usage forecasts produced based on population growth and manufacturing growth need to be revised [58,59]. The need for any type of revision creates new opportunities for research in the years to come.…”