چکیده:
This paper has examined the phenomenon of convergence of per capita out put
levels across the IC countries for the 1960-1998 periods. Three concepts of
convergence, i.e., sigma beta and relative beta, have been used.
The estimated beta values reveals only a very weak convergence (l=.0014) across
IC for 1960-1998 period. But when a more homogeneous group of countries were
selected, the results somehow improved the estimated beta value. For PEC s β
was.005.
The sigma values reveal that the per capita out-put decreases across IC had an
increasing trend over the 1950-1998 periods. It means that the poorer members
did not demonstrate strong output convergence for the full or part of the
period. For SAARC the output variation revealed a diminishing trend, but for the
OPEC countries it showed an increasing trend.
The results of relative convergence (toward the countries steady state position)
reveal that only for 15 countries the convergence hypothesis is confirmed. The
average speed of convergence was .33.
The results provide a weak evidence of convergence across the IC, it means more
attempt in various fields of cooperation: political, economic, cultural, social
and scientific, is required to meet the OIC goals.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"I- Introduction This paper investigates the question of whether there has been any convergence of per capita output levels across Islamic countries (IC) since 1950’s or not so far as we are aware of there has been no study on this and other related issues for Islamic countries yet In section one the socio economic indicators of These countries have provided growth impetus to different countries evenly given their factor endowments and structural characteristics.
Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1991) have used the following specification for estimation of the convergence coefficient across countries by non-linear least squares: Ln () = α - (Ln yi , t-T ) (1- e –β t ) ()+Ui , t (3) Where yi , t-T , is the level of per capita output in country i at the beginning of the interval, yi , t is the level of per capita out put in country i at time t, T is the length of the observation interval, α is a constant that represent the steady-state per capita growth rate, β is the convergence coefficient, and Ui,t, is the stocastic error term with zero mean.
b Data refer to a year or period other than that specified, differ from standard definition or refer to only part of a country c NICFF 2000 Table (A-2) - the Real GDP per capita growth rates in the OIC (1950-1998) Countries Period Number of observations 1950-58 1960 1970 1980 1990 1998 Average Max Min 1 Afghanistan 1988-98 11 0."