The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 emphasizes the need for economies around the world to double their efforts in energy efficiency improvements. This is because improvements in energy efficiency can trigger economic growth and considered as one of the ‘green’ growth strategies due to its carbon free content. To this end, some empirical studies have investigated the nexus between economic growth and energy efficiency, but the effects of the latter on financial indicators have not been sufficiently studied in the literature, at least in developing economies like Africa. This study examines the effect of energy efficiency improvements on commercial bank profitability under different political regimes (i.e., autocratic and democratic political regimes); something previous literature had neglected. The study uses panel data, consisting of 43 African countries and the simultaneous System Generalized Method of Moments. We found that energy efficiency improvement is more likely to induce higher bank profitability in political institutions with the characteristics of centralization of power compared with those with decentralization of power. Furthermore, for the banking sector, the findings suggest that energy utilization behavior of clients should be included in the loan or credit valuation process. For the government, the agenda of energy efficiency should be aggressively pursued while taking cognizance of creating a political environment that weans itself from a ‘grandfathering’ behavior.

中文翻译：

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撒哈拉以南非洲的金融化程度和能源效率：机构重要吗？

联合国可持续发展目标 7 强调世界各地的经济体需要加倍努力提高能源效率。这是因为能源效率的提高可以引发经济增长，并且由于其无碳含量而被视为“绿色”增长战略之一。为此，一些实证研究调查了经济增长和能源效率之间的关系，但后者对财务指标的影响在文献中尚未得到充分研究，至少在非洲等发展中经济体中是如此。本研究考察了不同政体（即专制政体和民主政体）下能源效率改进对商业银行盈利能力的影响；以前的文献忽略了一些东西。该研究使用面板数据，由 43 个非洲国家和同步系统广义矩法组成。我们发现，与权力分散的政治机构相比，能源效率的提高更有可能在具有权力集中特征的政治机构中诱导更高的银行盈利能力。此外，对于银行业而言，调查结果表明，客户的能源利用行为应包括在贷款或信贷估值过程中。对政府而言，应积极推进能源效率议程，同时考虑创造一种政治环境，使自己摆脱“祖父”行为。我们发现，与权力分散的政治机构相比，能源效率的提高更有可能在具有权力集中特征的政治机构中诱导更高的银行盈利能力。此外，对于银行业而言，调查结果表明，客户的能源利用行为应包括在贷款或信贷估值过程中。对政府而言，应积极推进能源效率议程，同时考虑创造一种政治环境，使自己摆脱“祖父”行为。我们发现，与权力分散的政治机构相比，能源效率的提高更有可能在具有权力集中特征的政治机构中诱导更高的银行盈利能力。此外，对于银行业而言，调查结果表明，客户的能源利用行为应包括在贷款或信贷估值过程中。对政府而言，应积极推进能源效率议程，同时考虑创造一种政治环境，使自己摆脱“祖父”行为。调查结果表明，客户的能源利用行为应包括在贷款或信贷估值过程中。对政府而言，应积极推进能源效率议程，同时考虑创造一种政治环境，使自己摆脱“祖父”行为。调查结果表明，客户的能源利用行为应包括在贷款或信贷估值过程中。对政府而言，应积极推进能源效率议程，同时考虑创造一种政治环境，使自己摆脱“祖父”行为。