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Technology Adoption and the Middle-Income Trap : Lessons from the Middle East and East Asia

Author

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  • Arezki,Rabah
  • Fan,Yuting
  • Nguyen,Ha Minh

Abstract

This paper documents the existence of a"middle-income trap"for the Middle East and North Africa region and contrasts the evidence with that of the East Asia and Pacific region. The results are two-folds. First, non-parametric regressions show that the average rate of economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa has not only been significantly lower than that in the East Asia and Pacific region, but it has also tended to drop at an earlier level of income. Second, econometric results point to Middle East and North Africa having experienced a relatively slow pace of technology adoption in general-purpose technologies and that a slower adoption pace of technology is associated with lower levels of economic growth. The paper concludes that barriers to the adoption of general-purpose technologies related to the lack of contestability in key sectors constitute an important channel of transmission for the middle-income trap.

Suggested Citation

  • Arezki,Rabah & Fan,Yuting & Nguyen,Ha Minh, 2019. "Technology Adoption and the Middle-Income Trap : Lessons from the Middle East and East Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8870, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8870
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    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/314521559247613834/pdf/Technology-Adoption-and-the-Middle-Income-Trap-Lessons-from-the-Middle-East-and-East-Asia.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Rabah Arezki & Vianney Dequiedt & Rachel Yuting Fan & Carlo Maria Rossotto, 2021. "Liberalization, Technology Adoption, and Stock Returns: Evidence from Telecom," Working Papers hal-03174354, HAL.
    2. repec:osf:socarx:95fdm_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Bianchi, Carlos & Isabella, Fernando & Martinis, Anaclara & Picasso, Santiago, 2024. "Varieties of middle-income trap: Heterogeneous trajectories and common determinants," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 320-336.
    4. Arezki,Rabah & Senbet,Lemma W., 2020. "Transforming Finance in the Middle East and North Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9301, The World Bank.
    5. Gnidchenko, Andrey A., 2021. "Structural transformation and quality ladders: Evidence from the new Theil's decomposition," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 281-291.
    6. Sinha, Avik & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Zafar, Wasif & Saleem, Muhammad Mansoor, 2021. "Analyzing Global Inequality in Access to Energy: Developing Policy Framework by Inequality Decomposition," MPRA Paper 111061, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    7. Yasser Moustafa Shehawy & Syed Md Faisal Ali Khan & Huthayfah Madkhali, 2025. "An Integrated SEM-ESG Framework for Understanding Consumer’s Green Technology Adoption Behavior," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(2), pages 8887-8928, June.
    8. Rabah Arezki & Vianney Dequiedt & Rachel Yuting Fan & Carlo Maria Rossotto, 2021. "Working Paper 352 - Liberalization, Technology Adoption, and Stock Returns: Evidence from Telecom," Working Paper Series 2478, African Development Bank.

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