Hydrocarbon exploitation and macroeconomic performance: a structural var approach for Basilicata1

The impact of the energy sector on the economy is large. Energy in all its forms (fuel, gas, minerals etc) is a crucial input of production and also of growth. This explains why it is important to analyze the relationship between macroeconomic performance (of a country, region, area) and energy. And this is even more relevant for countries rich of natural resources. Italy is the 4th hydrocarbon producer in Europe (after Norway, UK and Denmark) and more than 70% of oil its oil production comes from Basilicata, one of its smallest regions. Thus, the main aim of this work is to study the relationship between hydrocarbon extraction and GDP, employment and value added in construction in Basilicata. Overall, we obtain consistent empirical results independently of the methodologies adopted. The analysis showed that there is a very weak evidence that hydrocarbon exploitation has produced growth in Basilicata.