Economic Growth and Convergence across the OIC Countries

The main purpose of this study is to analyze whether the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries show a regional economic convergence during the last three decade. Following the other leading studies in the literature, income convergence in the OIC countries is estimated by using the following two methods: (i) absolute income convergence; (ii) conditional income convergence. As an extension, the determinants of growth across the countries are also examined. For a given starting level of real per capita GDP, the growth rate is enhanced by higher schooling and investment rate, better maintenance of the rule of law, lower fertility and improvements in the terms of trade. For given values of these and other variables, growth is adversely related to the initial level of real per capita GDP