 Old wine and new bottles: A critical appraisal of the middle-income trap in BRICS countriesRussian Journal of Economics, 2018, vol. 4, issue 2, 133-154 Abstract: The idea of a middle-income trap is now over a decade old and continues to be applied to growth paths which have not been self-sustaining. With the bulk of emerging markets now approaching middle-income status, and given the reality of slower growth for many countries (and the policy recommendations that currently exist for overcoming this problem), is the middle-income trap still a relevant framework? Using reference to the BRICS countries, the key finding of this analysis is that the middle-income trap conceptualization is of little value-added, as fundamentals still matter, especially in relation to macroeconomic stability. Similarly, we note that “quality” institutions are necessary, both political and economic, including (smaller) size of government and property rights. The “trap” as currently formulated is thus nothing new or particularly relevant, as it repackages some familiar structural issues while avoiding other crucial ones. Keywords: middle income trap; growth; BRICS; institutions; total factor productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:arh:jrujec:v:4:y:2018:i:2:p:133-154 Access Statistics for this article Russian Journal of Economics is currently edited by Alexey Kudrin More articles in Russian Journal of Economics from ARPHA Platform |
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