Abstract: Taking China’s 30 provinces as the research subjects and based on the consideration of the habit effect of energy consumption, this paper sets up a dynamic panel threshold model and takes the economic growth level as the threshold variable to investigate the dynamic economic growth threshold effect of financial development on per capita energy consumption. The results show that though financial development can significantly inhibit per capita energy consumption, when the level of economic growth is higher than the threshold value, the inhibitory effect of financial development on per capita energy consumption will become weaker. The inhibitory effect of financial development on per capita energy consumption presents a weaken trend, compared with the central and western regions, the financial development in the eastern region has a weaker effect on the per capita energy consumption. Within the threshold range of lower economic growth level, the financial development can significantly promote per capita energy consumption through economic growth channels, but the channels of technological innovation are not smooth. However, when the level of economic growth exceeds the threshold value, financial development can significantly curb per capita energy consumption through economic growth channels and technological innovation channels.

Key words: financial development; energy consumption; economic growth; dynamic threshold effect