Energy Access and Food Insecurity in South and Southeast Asia: Threshold Effects, Quantile Heterogeneity, and Climate Vulnerability

This study examines the nonlinear and threshold relationships among renewable energy transition, financial inclusion, institutional quality, food insecurity, and energy access across 12 economies in South and Southeast Asia from 2000 to 2023. Using panel fixed-effects estimation, Hansen threshold regression, Method-of-Moments Quantile Regression, and Driscoll–Kraay robust standard errors, this study investigates how governance, finance, and structural development factors are associated with progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 and 7. Three key findings emerge. First, institutional quality exhibits significant nonlinear and threshold effects on both food insecurity and energy access, indicating that the relationship between governance quality and these outcomes varies across different development levels. Second, financial inclusion is the strongest and most consistent positive correlate of energy access, while also exhibiting a nonlinear association with food insecurity. Third, aggregate renewable-energy consumption is positively associated with food insecurity at the middle and upper quantiles, likely reflecting the continued contribution of traditional biomass to aggregate renewable-energy measures rather than the effects of modern renewable energy deployment. Urbanization and education are consistently associated with lower levels of food insecurity. These results highlight the importance of governance quality, inclusive finance, and distinguishing traditional biomass from modern renewable energy when assessing food security and energy access. This study contributes to the nonlinear development literature by integrating threshold estimation and quantile heterogeneity within a unified food–energy nexus framework for South and Southeast Asia.