Short-term and long-term effects of energy consumption in the industrial sector on the inequality of urban and rural areas

The goal of the current research was the short-term and long-term effects of energy consumption in the industrial sector on inequality. The present research method is descriptive and non-experimental. The statistical population was Iran's information and statistics, based on the requirements of the research variables and based on the available statistics, the data of the years 1361 to 1395 was determined as the statistical sample of the research. The amount of energy consumption (oil, gas, solid fuels and electricity) in the country's industries was used as an independent variable, and information related to the Gini coefficient, the share of the richest 10% to the poorest 10%, and the average index of the total annual income of an urban/rural household were used as the dependent variables of the research.. ARDL regression model was used in Eviews10 software to analyze research hypotheses. The obtained results showed that in the long term, the consumption of energy in the industrial sector has a significant negative effect, and the consumption of electricity in the industrial sector has a positive and significant effect on the Gini coefficient. In the long term, the consumption of solid fuels and electricity in the industrial sector has a negative and significant effect on the share index of the richest 10% to the poorest 10%. Also, in the long term, the effect of consumption of petroleum products and electricity has had a significant positive effect on the average income of urban and rural areas. Energy consumption in the industrial sector of a country can help to reduce poverty in the country by increasing the income of the working class and the lower deciles of the society and make the distribution of income fair. In this context, cheap energies have had a better effect, but expensive energies have provided contradictory results.