Dynamic Specialization and Convergence of MENA Countries

Abstract

Specialization plays an important role in economic performances. Theories of international change predict that countries tend to specialize in the product where they have a relative advantage. In this case, developing countries cannot catch-up the developed ones. However, some growth theories predict that developing economies converge toward the developed ones since they realize a higher growth rate. That has been the ultimate object of some Mediterranean countries when they have signed an association agreement with the European Union. The aim of this paper is to verify if that has been a convergence of the per capita income of four Mediterranean countries (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey) toward the one of the two richest European Union (Germany and France). The results issues from an empirical investigation denote that there is a divergence of per capita income and this one is the result of a bad specialization of the south Mediterranean countries.