The relationship between blue economy and economic growth: The case of OECD countries

In recent years, with the increasing population and resource demand around the world, the concept of blue economy, which is based on the sustainable use of sea and ocean resources, has begun to gain importance at the international level. The blue economy offers significant opportunities as an approach that contributes to environmental sustainability and also supports economic growth. In this study, the relationship between blue economy indicators and economic growth was examined using panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) analysis. This study covers annual data for 22 coastal OECD countries between 2001 and 2021. In the model, GDP per capita (GSYH) was used as the economic growth variable. The main variables related to the blue economy sectors are container port traffic (KLT), international tourism receipts (TG), total aquaculture production (TSU) and renewable electricity production (YEU). In addition, variables such as total exports (TX) and foreign direct investments (DYY) are also included in the model as control variables. The effects of these variables, both among themselves and on economic growth, were evaluated in a dynamic structure through causality, impulse-response and variance decomposition analyses. In line with this, the causal relationships of all variables in the model were analyzed in detail and it was concluded that there was a bidirectional causal relationship between many variables. Also, evaluation of the impulse-response graphs revealed that there were significant short-term interactions between the variables. As a result, the development of blue economy sectors should be supported along with economic growth and long-term sustainable policies should be developed for these areas. This study aims to both contribute to the literature at a theoretical level and to guide policy development processes with applicable recommendations. Keywords: Blue Economy, Panel VAR, Economic Growth