This paper provides a working definition of what the middle-income trap is. It classifies 124 countries that have consistent data for 1950-2010. First, the paper defines four income groups of gross domestic product per capita in 1990 purchasing power parity dollars: low-income below $2,000; lower...

This paper takes an efficiency analysis perspective to analyze, on the basis of the data of the 2009 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, the determinants of scholastic performance in five Asian countries (Azerbaijan,...