تحليل شكل گيري همگرايي اقتصادي در منطقه خاورميانه و شمال آفريقا : يافته هاي جديد

Economic Convergence Within the MENA Countries: New Findings

This article is not included in your organizationʹs subscription. However, you may be able to access this article under your organizationʹs agreement with Elsevier. Convergence hypothesis implies that the per capita income growth rate of poor countries is higher than the rich countries. Theʹ efore, income inequality will be decreased in transition process. This article aims at testing the club convergence hypot sis in MENA region during 1970-2003. We use [3 convergence ind o convergence (or distributed) models. Our estimation results show that the income inequality c! creased during 1970-2003. Even though such decreasing was n< evenly distributed. Also, in estimating [3 convergence model, the coefficient of threshold dummy variable shows that per capita income in MENA region is separated in to two groups. Therefore, the club convergence hypothesis is not rejected in MENA countries. By using panel data method, we estimate TFP in MENA region For decades of 1970,s, 1980,s and 1990,s. The results show two income groups appear in MENA. As Quah, TFP separating is one of the most important club convergences.