IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/ecdecc/y2005v53i2p293-326.html

Reviving Growth in the Arab World

Author

Listed:
  • Elbadawi, Ibrahim A

Abstract

Why has growth in the Arab world been so disappointing? Stagnating since 1985, the little growth that does exist is volatile and unstable, and the region has lagged behind both the gains of other developing countries and the region's own pre-1985 performance. This article attempts to encourage the revitalization of growth in the Arab world by addressing the following two questions: why has growth been so low, specifically in comparison to the high performers of East Asia, and why has it been so erratic and unstable? I estimate two growth models of the determinants of long-term growth and the persistence of growth, using global panel data drawn from more than 70 countries. I conclude by describing two strategies and one development constraint important in explaining the growth process specific to the Arab world.

Suggested Citation

  • Elbadawi, Ibrahim A, 2005. "Reviving Growth in the Arab World," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 293-326, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:y:2005:v:53:i:2:p:293-326
    DOI: 10.1086/425375
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/425375
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/425375?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marianne Baxter & Robert G. King, 1999. "Measuring Business Cycles: Approximate Band-Pass Filters For Economic Time Series," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(4), pages 575-593, November.
    2. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    3. van Wijnbergen, Sweder J G, 1984. "The 'Dutch Disease': A Disease after All?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 94(373), pages 41-55, March.
    4. Gallup, John L. & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Mellinger, Andrew, "undated". "Geography and Economic Development," Instructional Stata datasets for econometrics geodata, Boston College Department of Economics.
    5. John Luke Gallup & Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew D. Mellinger, 1998. "Geography and Economic Development," NBER Working Papers 6849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Robert J. Barro, 2013. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(1), pages 121-144, May.
    7. J. Peter Neary & Sweder van Wijnbergen, 1985. "Natural resources and the macroeconomy : a theoretical framework," Working Papers 198536, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    8. Norman Loayza & Pablo Fajnzylber & César Calderón, 2004. "Economic Growth in Latin America and The Caribbean: Stylized Facts, Explanations, and Forecasts," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 265, Central Bank of Chile.
    9. Xavier Sala-I-Martin, 1997. "Transfers, Social Safety Nets, and Economic Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(1), pages 81-102, March.
    10. Caselli, Francesco & Esquivel, Gerardo & Lefort, Fernando, 1996. "Reopening the Convergence Debate: A New Look at Cross-Country Growth Empirics," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 363-389, September.
    11. repec:wbk:wbpubs:13920 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Easterly, William & Levine, Ross, 2003. "Tropics, germs, and crops: how endowments influence economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 3-39, January.
    13. Delano S Villanueva & Roberto S Mariano & Diwa C Guinigundo & Abbas Mirakhor, 2023. "Testing the Neoclassical Theory of Economic Growth: A Panel Data Approach," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Economic Adjustment and Growth Theory and Practice, chapter 2, pages 10-43, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali Abdel Gadir Ali, "undated". "The Political Economy of Inequality in the Arab Region and Relevant Development Policies," API-Working Paper Series 0904, Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, Information Center.
    2. Wood,Christina A. & Yang,Judy, 2016. "MENA export performance and specialization -- the role of financial sector development and governance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7616, The World Bank.
    3. Artelaris, Panagiotis & Arvanitidis, Paschalis & Petrakos, George, 2006. "Theoretical and Methodological Study on Dynamic Growth Regions and Factors Explaining their Growth Performance," Papers DYNREG02, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    4. Nahed Zghidi & Zouheir Abida, 2014. "Financial Development, Trade Openness and Economic Growth in North African Countries," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 17(53), pages 91-120, September.
    5. AfDB AfDB, . "The AfDB Group in North Africa 2014," Country Brochure, African Development Bank, number 2138.
    6. Ali Abdel Gadir Ali, 2009. "The Political Economy of Inequality in the Arab Region and Relevant Development Policies," Working Papers 502, Economic Research Forum, revised Aug 2009.
    7. Kshetri, Nir & Ajami, Riad, 2008. "Institutional reforms in the Gulf Cooperation Council economies: A conceptual framework," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 300-318, September.
    8. AfDB AfDB, . "ORNA - North Africa - Annual Report 2014," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 2139.
    9. Gasmi,Farid & Kouakou,Dorgyles Christ Maurel & Noumba Um,Paul & Milla,Pedro Rojas, 2023. "An Empirical Analysis of the Social Contract in the Middle East and North Africa : Regionand the Role of Digitalization in Its Transformation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10455, The World Bank.
    10. Gasmi, Farid & Kouakou, Dorgyles & Noumba Um, Paul & Rojas Milla, Pedro, 2023. "An empirical analysis of the social contract in the MENA region and the role of digitalization in its transformation," TSE Working Papers 23-1423, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    11. Bougharriou, Nouha & Benayed, Walid & Gabsi, Foued Badr, 2019. "The democracy and economic growth nexus: Do FDI and government spending matter? Evidence from the Arab world," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy, vol. 13, pages 1-29.
    12. Zouheir Abida & Imen Mohamed Sghaier & Nahed Zghidi, 2015. "Financial Development and Economic Growth: Evidence from North African Countries," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 17-33, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Norman Loayza & Pablo Fajnzylber & César Calderón, 2004. "Economic Growth in Latin America and The Caribbean: Stylized Facts, Explanations, and Forecasts," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 265, Central Bank of Chile.
    2. M. Rosaria Alfano & A. Laura Baraldi, 2014. "Electoral Systems and Economic Growth: What is the Importance of the Proportionality Degree?," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2014/06, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    3. Mahmud, Hassan, 2008. "Why has Growth slowed in Sub-Saharan Africa: A System GMM-IV Approach," MPRA Paper 25910, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Smaoui, Houcem & Nechi, Salem, 2017. "Does sukuk market development spur economic growth?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 136-147.
    5. Vusal Musayev, 2016. "Externalities in Military Spending and Growth: The Role of Natural Resources as a Channel through Conflict," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 378-391, June.
    6. Olivier Parent & Abdallah Zouache, 2009. "Geographical Features vs. Institutional Factors : New Perspectives on the Growth of Africa and Middle-East," Post-Print hal-00430382, HAL.
    7. David E. Bloom & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1998. "Geography, Demography, and Economic Growth in Africa," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 29(2), pages 207-296.
    8. Laura Recuero Virto & Denis Couvet & Frédéric Ducarme, 2018. "The determinants of economic growth in countries with high marine biodiversity," Working Papers 2018.03, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    9. Rose, Andrew K., 2006. "Size really doesn't matter: In search of a national scale effect," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 482-507, December.
    10. John Luke Gallup & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2000. "The Economic Burden of Malaria," CID Working Papers 52A, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    11. Stephen Dobson & Carlyn Ramlogan & Eric Strobl, 2006. "Why Do Rates Of Β‐Convergence Differ? A Meta‐Regression Analysis," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 53(2), pages 153-173, May.
    12. Jesús López-Rodríguez & J. Andrés Faíña, 2000. "Human Capital Accumulation and Geography: Empirical Evidence in the European Union," Regional and Urban Modeling 283600060, EcoMod.
    13. Indunil De Silva & Sudarno Sumarto, 2015. "Dynamics Of Growth, Poverty And Human Capital: Evidence From Indonesian Sub-National Data," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 40(2), pages 1-33, June.
    14. M. Alfano & A. Baraldi, 2015. "Is there an optimal level of political competition in terms of economic growth? Evidence from Italy," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 263-285, April.
    15. Jeffry A. Jacob & Thomas Osang, 2018. "Democracy And Growth: A Dynamic Panel Data Study," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 41-80, August.
    16. E. Tsanana & X. Chapsa & C. Katrakilidis, 2016. "Is growth corrupted or bureaucratic? Panel evidence from the enlarged EU," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(33), pages 3131-3147, July.
    17. Sumarto, Sudarno & De Silva, Indunil, 2014. "Being Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Dynamics of Indonesian Subnational Growth and Poverty," MPRA Paper 57824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Pyyhtiä, Ilmo, 2007. "Why is Europe lagging behind?," Research Discussion Papers 3/2007, Bank of Finland.
    19. Irina-Elena GENTIMIR, 2015. "In The Globalization Era, Which Are The Determinants Of Growth?," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 7(1), pages 60-79, March.
    20. Vincent Leyaro & Oliver Morrissey, 2010. "Trade and Growth: Is Sub-Saharan Africa Different," Discussion Papers 10/04, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:y:2005:v:53:i:2:p:293-326. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/EDCC .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.