Examination of the Relationship between Economic Growth, Natural Resources, Energy Consumption, Urbanization, and Capital

The aim of this study is to research the relationship between natural resources, energy consumption, urbanization, capital, and economic growth in BRICS countries for the period 1990–2016 by using panel data method. According to the analysis findings, no statistically significant relationship was found between capital accumulation and urbanization in BRICS countries. Moreover, the effect of energy consumption and natural resources on economic GDP is statistically significant. The relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is very important, so energy consumption contributes to economic growth. On the other hand, the effect of natural resources is negative contrary to expectations and has a negative coefficient. Therefore, the “curse of natural resources” remains valid for this country group. In this respect, it is noteworthy that in policy implementations, a path should be followed according to the economic characteristics of the country group and the resources their have.