The success of economic reforms in China is often attributed to favourable starting conditions. Yet structural characteristics and the effects of fiscal decentralisation differ significantly between the prosperous coast and the laggard interior. We argue that the process of income convergence...

The gap between the per capita income of most Arab countries and that of advanced industrial countries has widened since the early 1990s. The economic growth performance of the Arab world has been weak by developing country standards, too. Yet, the diversity of growth patterns within this group...