ICT and the Convergence of the Middle East to the Developed Economies

Stanojević, Nataša (2021) ICT and the Convergence of the Middle East to the Developed Economies. In: Convergence and Confrontation: The Balkans and the Middle East in the 21st Century. Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade, pp. 167-193. ISBN 978-86-7067-293-2

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Abstract

The focus of this research is the problem of the constant lag in the economic development of the Middle East region. Due to numerous specifics and limitations, these countries are not subject to conventional development models. One of the newer development opportunities is offered by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which bypass many earlier obstacles to the development of this region. The review of previous research, as a starting point for this paper, includes theoretical assumptions about the mechanisms of positive effects of ICT on economic development, but also the results of empirical research that do not indicate such clear positive effects, especially in less developed economies. The general hypothesis is that ICTs have converging and diverging effects on the development of Middle Eastern economies: ICT implementation in these undiversified economies has very limited scope, while investing in ICT has a strong positive effect on economic growth. The methods used are classification of ICT determinants in the region, as well as Pearson coefficient of correlation between investment in ICT and economic growth. The summary results show that ICT has significant development potentials for the region only if they are implemented in specially selected segments of the economy for each individual country.

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