The Nexus Between Crude Oil Production, Human Development and Economic Growth in Cameroon (1977–2019)

This paper explores the asymmetric and symmetric influence of the human development index (HDI), economic growth, CO2 emissions and inflation on crude oil production (COP) in Cameroon from 1977 to 2019. The Zivot-Andrews and Augmented Dickey-Fuller tests verified stationarity, the ARDL and NARDL models were applied to assess asymmetric and symmetric effects and finally, causality was established by the Toda-Yamamoto test. The results conclude that economic growth and CO2 emissions have a negative impact on COP in the long term, while in the short term the HDI and inflation have a positive impact. The presence of an asymmetric influence of HDI and economic growth in the short term, and an asymmetric influence of CO2 emissions and inflation on COP in the long term. A two-way connection between economic growth and COP. A unidirectional link between the HDI, CO2 emissions and inflation on COP. As a result of these findings, policies have been formulated to help Cameroon achieve crude oil production that is beneficial to social and economic development while respecting environmental standards.