In 2010, the World Bank categorized countries in per capita gross domestic product in terms of purchasing power parity (at constant 1990 prices) in three categories: low, middle (lower and upper) and high income. If a country caught at least 28 years in lower middle income level and at least 14 years caught in upper middle-income level, then they are trapped in lower middle and upper middle...

 Even if the transition is made from a middle-income country to a high-income country due to high growth in a short period of time like in the NIEs, there is the possibility that after the middle-income trap, there is another waiting trap of a sort faced by high-income countries. Even in the case that some time is needed for growth and the middle-income trap is experienced, it is possible duri...

This paper employs a historical approach to address whether a country can avoid the middle-income trap. The development of the manufacturing sector and technological capacities are important for a country to avoid the middle-income trap. South Korea avoided the middleincome trap through developing the manufacturing sector. Argentina became a middle-income country by exporting agricultural goods...

The “middle-income trap” is the phenomenon of hitherto rapidly growing economies stagnating at middle-income levels and failing to graduate into the ranks of high-income countries. In this study we examine the middle-income trap as a special case of growth slowdowns, which are identified as large sudden and sustained deviations from the growth path predicted by a basic conditional convergence f...