The name is absent

inequality. That is, inequalities in the transformation indices and final energy
consumption per GDP unit would reinforce each other. This is so because the
countries with worse efficiency level in energy transformation tend also to be
those that consume more energy per GDP unit. At the other extreme are
regions like North America or Africa, where the negative and significant value of
the interaction factor has been increased throughout the period. This largely
compensates the inequalities in final energy consumption in both cases.

4. Conclusions

As shown by previous studies, energy intensity inequality is a determining factor
in the unequal energy consumption and emissions per capita among countries.
The observed decline in energy intensity inequality in the past decades has
been one of the main causes of the reduction in inequalities in emissions per
capita. Several studies have focused on the importance of different factors in
the evolution of final energy intensity differences. However, primary energy
inequalities and their evolution can be conditioned by differences in final energy
intensity and differences in efficiency in transforming primary into final energy
alike. The present paper contributes to the literature by illustrating the role of the
differences in the internal component of the energy sector and the one of the
differences in final energy intensity in the evolution of primary energy intensity
inequalities through synthetic indicators.

We analyzed the evolution of energy intensity inequalities using the Theil index.
The methodology, which is developed by the authors, allows decomposing
inequality into three components. One that captures the partial contribution of
energy transformation indexes; one that calculates the role of final energy
consumption per GDP unit; and finally an interaction factor. The methodology
also permitted the decomposition of the factors by groups of countries and
within the groups considered (following the IEA classification).

In line with previous studies the findings clearly reveal an important decline in
cross country energy intensity inequality. For the groups of countries

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