Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mohsen Namaei Ghasemi ¹
• mehdi fathabadi ²
• Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh ³
• masood soufimajodpour ²

¹ Ph.D. Candidate in Economics, Firuzkuh Branch. Islamic Azad University, Firuzkuh, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Firuzkuh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Firuzkuh, Iran

³ Faculty Member of Islamic Azad University of Firoozkooh Branch

Abstract

The Total GDP of MENA region is about 7 trillion dollars (5.9% of the world) and its population is about 405 million people (5.5% of the world). The aim of this article is to evaluate the sustainability drivers of 15 countries in the MENA region in the period of 1998-2019 in different sub periods. Evidence shows that 14 countries are on Catch up in 1999-2019. For a better understanding, the correlation has been calculated in four periods: 1980-89, 1990-99, 2000-09 and 2010-19. In the first period, only Egypt and Morocco have caught up. In the second period, 9 countries have experienced catch up and 6 countries have experienced lagging behind. In the third period, a significant improvement in the catch up of countries (except the UAE) is observed. In the fourth period, countries are on the path of catch up. The evidence shows that capital deepening has had a dominant role in 11 countries' performance. The participation of human resource in the three countries of Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia is negative and positive in other countries. However, the contribution of human resources is less than capital deepening. In none of the countries, the contribution of productivity has not positive, and there is no evidence of the role of productivity growth in the performance of these countries, and they have a deep distance from American Unites States (as an ideal example). In addition, the pattern of catch up of large economies is similar to that of small economies.

Keywords

• Catch Up
• Lagging Behind
• Capital Deepening
• Productivity
• MENA Countries

Main Subjects

• Growth Economy