Towards a Dynamic and Progressive Integration of Renewable Energies in Tunisia : The Roles of Foreign Direct Investment, Total Factor Productivity, and Information and Communication Technologies

This paper scrutinizes the interrelationships amongst renewable energies, foreign direct investment (FDI), total factor productivity (TFP), information and communication technologies (ICT), and trade openness in the context of Tunisia from 1984 to 2019. For that reason, we empirically use the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) with the breakpoint method. The results of our study reveal the prominent role of FDI and TFP in the renewable energy transition. Therefore, the diffusion of renewable energies should no longer be done only by the government but the private sector should take part in this transition by encouraging FDI. However, our results reveal that trade and ICT inhibit this process. This fact may be explained by the economic recession, bad governance, and political instability which have delayed the implementation of new technologies in vital sectors of the economy, specifically the energy sector