المستخلص: |
This paper investigates whether a long term relationship existed between inequality and economic growth in the Middle Eastern countries. Results of most cointegration tests supported a long term relationship. We therefore employed the fixed effects, random effects and generalized methods of moments, fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares estimations to estimate the impact of inequality on growth. Results implied that inequality fostered rather than hampered growth in only three MENA countries whereas the inequality coefficient proved insignificant in the remaining countries in the sample. The results also support the hypothesis that the impact of inequality on growth is independent on the level of development as the three countries signifying the positive relationship pertained to three different development levels, lower-middle, upper middle and high income countries.
|