IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v23y2009i3p165-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Three Arab Worlds

Author

Listed:
  • James E. Rauch
  • Scott Kostyshak

Abstract

Given the attention currently focused on the Arab world in part as a result of adjustments in U.S. foreign policy, a fresh look at Arab socioeconomic performance is in order. The Arab world is defined by language rather than ethnicity. The League of Arab States, formed in 1945, consists of all countries in which (a dialect of) Arabic is the spoken language of the majority. It is useful to compare the human development diversity of the Arab world to that of Latin America, another vast geographic area defined by language and culture. Our strategy in this article is therefore to disaggregate the Arab world into Arab sub-Saharan Africa, Arab fuel-endowed economies, and a remainder we call the Arab Mediterranean, and to compare these three Arab worlds to non-Arab sub-Saharan Africa, non-Arab fuel endowed economies, and the rest of the non-Arab world. We will evaluate Arab socioeconomic progress from 1970 to as close to the present as the data allow.

Suggested Citation

  • James E. Rauch & Scott Kostyshak, 2009. "The Three Arab Worlds," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(3), pages 165-188, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:23:y:2009:i:3:p:165-88
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.23.3.165
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.23.3.165
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Determinants of Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 158-183, December.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson & Pierre Yared, 2008. "Income and Democracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 808-842, June.
    3. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    4. Asea, Patrick K. & Lahiri, Amartya, 1999. "The precious bane," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 823-849, April.
    5. Gylfason, Thorvaldur, 2001. "Natural resources, education, and economic development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 847-859, May.
    6. Paul Collier & Jan Willem Gunning, 1999. "Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 3-22, Summer.
    7. Rachel M. McCleary & Robert J. Barro, 2006. "Religion and Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 49-72, Spring.
    8. World Bank, 2007. "Making the Most of Scarcity : Accountability for Better Water Management Results in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6845.
    9. Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Warner, Andrew M., 2001. "The curse of natural resources," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 827-838, May.
    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 Fakih & Pascal L. Ghazalian, 2013. "Female Labour Force Participation in MENA's Manufacturing Sector: The Implications of Firm-related and National Factors," CIRANO Working Papers 2013s-46, CIRANO.
    2. Ali Fakih & Nathir Haimoun & Mohamad Kassem, 2020. "Youth Unemployment, Gender and Institutions During Transition: Evidence from the Arab Spring," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 311-336, July.
    3. Nadereh Chamlou & Silvia Muzi & Hanane Ahmed, 2011. "Understanding the Determinants of Female Labor Force Participation in the Middle East and North Africa Region: The Role of Education and Social Norms in Amman," Working Papers 31, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
    4. Jahan-Parvar, Mohammad R. & Waters, George A., 2010. "Equity price bubbles in the Middle Eastern and North African Financial markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 39-48, March.
    5. Ali Fakih & Pascal L. Ghazalian, 2013. "Female Labour Force Participation in MENA's Manufacturing Sector: The Implications of Firm-related and National Factors," CIRANO Working Papers 2013s-46, CIRANO.
    6. Radek Szulga, 2014. "A Dynamic Model of Female Labor Force Participation Rate and Human Capital Investment," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(3), pages 81-114, September.
    7. Pascal L. Ghazalian, 2022. "The effects of the Arab Spring on female labour force participation in the MENA region," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 869-900, October.
    8. James E. Rauch & Scott Kostyshak, 2014. "The three Arab worlds on the eve of the ‘Arab Spring’," Chapters, in: M. Kabir Hassan & Mervyn K. Lewis (ed.), Handbook on Islam and Economic Life, chapter 30, pages iii-iii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Ali Fakih & Pascal Ghazalian, 2015. "Female employment in MENA’s manufacturing sector: the implications of firm-related and national factors," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 37-69, February.
    10. John C. Anyanwu, 2018. "Empirical Analysis of Key Drivers of Gender Equality in Tertiary Education Enrolment in Africa," International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 4(7), pages 197-213, 07-2018.
    11. Abdul A. Erumban, 2023. "The Falling Productivity in West Asian Arab Countries Since the 1980s: Causes, Consequences, and Cures," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 44, pages 89-119, Fall.

    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. Polterovich, Victor & Popov, Vladimir & Tonis, Alexander, 2008. "Mechanisms of Resource Curse, Economic Policy and Growth," MPRA Paper 20570, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Hodler, Roland, 2010. "Natural resources, democracy and corruption," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 608-621, May.
    3. James E. Rauch & Scott Kostyshak, 2014. "The three Arab worlds on the eve of the ‘Arab Spring’," Chapters, in: M. Kabir Hassan & Mervyn K. Lewis (ed.), Handbook on Islam and Economic Life, chapter 30, pages iii-iii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Cunado, Juncal & Filis, George & Gracia, Fernando Perez de, 2017. "Oil dependence, quality of political institutions and economic growth: A panel VAR approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 147-163.
    5. Daniel Aparicio-Pérez & Jordi Ripollés, 2024. "Disentangling the heterogeneous effect of natural resources on economic growth," Working Papers 2024/02, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    6. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Cunado, Juncal & Filis, George & Perez de Gracia, Fernando, 2015. "The Resource Curse Hypothesis Revisited: Evidence from a Panel VAR," MPRA Paper 72085, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Blanco, Luisa & Grier, Robin, 2012. "Natural resource dependence and the accumulation of physical and human capital in Latin America," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 281-295.
    8. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2009. "Democratic Capital: The Nexus of Political and Economic Change," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 88-126, July.
    9. Doris A. Oberdabernig & Stefan Humer & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, 2018. "Democracy, Geography and Model Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 154-185, May.
    10. Papaioannou, Elias & Siourounis, Gregorios, 2008. "Economic and social factors driving the third wave of democratization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 365-387, September.
    11. Shahnawaz Sheikh & Nugent Jeffery B, 2004. "Is Natural Resource Wealth Compatible with Good Governance?," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 1-33, December.
    12. Al Mamun, Md & Sohag, Kazi & Hassan, M. Kabir, 2017. "Governance, resources and growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 238-261.
    13. Francesco Caselli & Andrea Tesei, 2016. "Resource Windfalls, Political Regimes, and Political Stability," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(3), pages 573-590, July.
    14. Smith, Brock, 2015. "The resource curse exorcised: Evidence from a panel of countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 57-73.
    15. Boucekkine, Raouf & Prieur, Fabien & Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis & Zou, Benteng, 2021. "Stochastic petropolitics: The dynamics of institutions in resource-dependent economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    16. Madsen, Jakob B. & Raschky, Paul A. & Skali, Ahmed, 2015. "Does democracy drive income in the world, 1500–2000?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 175-195.
    17. repec:fgv:epgrbe:v:65:n:4:a:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Pushan Dutt & Devashish Mitra, 2008. "Inequality and the Instability of Polity and Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(531), pages 1285-1314, August.
    19. Manuel Couret Branco, 2006. "The Political Economy of Democratic Governance and Economic Development," Economics Working Papers 12_2006, University of Évora, Department of Economics (Portugal).
    20. Shao, Shuai & Yang, Lili, 2014. "Natural resource dependence, human capital accumulation, and economic growth: A combined explanation for the resource curse and the resource blessing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 632-642.
    21. Coro CHASCO & Maricruz LACALLE-CALDERON & Javier ALFONSO-GIL, 2017. "Key determinants of civil liberty: a spatial analysis of 175 countries for the year 2010," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 17(2), pages 19-32.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • P40 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - General

    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:aea:jecper:v:23:y:2009:i:3:p:165-88. 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    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.