Revisiting the biomass energy-economic growth linkage of BRICS countries: A panel quantile regression with fixed effects approach

This study revisits the relationship between biomass energy and economic growth for the case of BRICS countries by adopting a newly introduced method: panel quantile regression with fixed effects via the method of moments. By applying this novel estimator based on the dataset from 1990 to 2017, our research provides a more detailed view of the heterogeneous impact of biomass energy production on different levels of economic growth of the BRICS countries. Specifically, our analysis results disclose that the influence of biomass energy production is insignificant at the 5th quantile, but it is positive and significant at the remaining quantiles. The impact of biomass energy extraction is also increasing gradually as quantile levels of economic growth increase. In addition to the above results, we also use the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test to confirm the bidirectional causal nexus between economic growth and biomass energy. These results are the basis for us to make some policy recommendations for BRICS countries. •Revisiting the link between biomass energy and economic growth of BRICS countries.•Panel quantile regression with fixed effects via the method of moments are applied.•A positive relation between biomass energy and economic growth is confirmed.•The impact of biomass energy on economic growth is greater in higher-income countries.•The bidirectional causal connection exists between economic growth and biomass energy.