Convergence des pays de la région MENA vers le niveau de revenu des pays du Sud de l’Europe : une évaluation empirique

Abstract

This paper aims at testing the convergence of MENA countries per capita income to the level of per capita income of southern European countries. We have applied sigma-convergence tests and beta convergence tests à la Chatterjii to assess the convergence issue. According to our results, the process of (sigma) convergence is not uniform over time. Estimating convergence clubs with Chatterjii's methodology can refine the results by analyzing what countries within the MENA region had started a process of catching up. The per capita income level of southern European countries does not seem to be a target toward which MENA per capita incomes are converging in the long term.