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  • 8 - The Middle East

  • from Part I - Regional Developments
  • Edited by Stephen Broadberry, University of Oxford, Kyoji Fukao, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World
    Published online:
    03 June 2021
    Print publication:
    24 June 2021, pp 213-250

  • Summary

    This chapter documents the long-term trend of economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa region between 1870 and 2010, and analyses both the proximate sources (labour, physical capital, and technology) and underlying sources (geography and institutions) of economic growth. The chapter puts together novel empirical facts at the country level on the long-term trends of key variables in economic development, including GDP per capita, democracy, population, fertility, mortality, migration, labour force participation, human capital, physical capital, and technology. Geography, in particular the abundance of natural resources, shaped the path of economic development in the region through the emergence and persistence of undemocratic political institutions and coercive labour institutions. This is the case for the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Libya, Algeria, Iran, and Iraq. By contrast, countries that are less rich in natural resources witnessed more diverse political development paths, although their upheavals mostly resulted in (presidential) dictatorships.