The intellectual structure and thematic evolution of middle-income trap research: A bibliometric analysis (2009–2025)
Ibrahim Bakırtaş
Prof. Dr., Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Aksaray UniversityAksaray, Turkiye
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y Emre Yardımcı
Res. Asst., Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Aksaray UniversityAksaray, Turkiye
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17 jun 2025
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Categoría del artículo: Research Papers
Publicado en línea: 17 jun 2025
Páginas: 93 - 119
Recibido: 08 jun 2025
Aceptado: 17 jun 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rsep-2025-0008
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© 2025 Ibrahim Bakırtaş et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Themes' performance in the Third period (2018-2025)
| Topics | Number of Publications | h-Index | Average Citation | Centrality | Density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COUNTRIES | 3 | 2 | 21.67 | 21.57 | 7.3 |
| STRATEGIES | 2 | 1 | 19 | 22.89 | 27.5 |
| SMALL-OPEN-ECONOMY | 3 | 3 | 16.33 | 25.29 | 16.96 |
| POVERTY-TRAPS | 2 | 2 | 14.5 | 21.53 | 15 |
| DIVERSITY | 1 | 2 | 8.25 | 22.9 | 15.32 |
| EFFICIENY | 2 | 1 | 4.5 | 19.11 | 11.07 |
| SPECIALIZATION | 4 | 1 | 1.5 | 23.2 | 7.35 |
| GEOGRAPY | 2 | 1 | 37.5 | 16.46 | 9.92 |
| CHILE | 2 | 1 | 9 | 10.3 | 16.97 |
| FERTILITY | 2 | 1 | 3 | 16.8 | 15.8 |
| MIGRATION | 3 | 2 | 1.33 | 16.44 | 7.5 |
| HIGH INCOME | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14.25 | 21.17 |
| SOUTH-KOREA | 4 | 3 | 12.75 | 15.68 | 7.14 |
| INCOME | 7 | 4 | 10 | 16.59 | 7.21 |
| PER-CAPITA-INCOME | 5 | 3 | 8.2 | 16.69 | 3.09 |
| BRAZIL | 5 | 3 | 3 | 14.87 | 3.98 |
| INDUSTRIALIZATION | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4.94 | 2.5 |
| INEQUALITY | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16.59 | 2.17 |
| PRODUCTIVE-SOPHISTICATION | 2 | 2 | 22 | 28.67 | 7.19 |
| MIDDLE-INCOME-TRAP | 23 | 10 | 12.78 | 19.31 | 0.36 |
| FOREIGN-DIRECT-INVESMENT | 15 | 6 | 7.87 | 28.35 | 1.23 |
| ARDL MODEL | 49 | 10 | 7.47 | 24.64 | 1.79 |
| CAUSALITY | 7 | 3 | 2.71 | 32.42 | 6.85 |
Synonymous Keywords
| Matching Table for Keywords Determined by Authors | |
|---|---|
| middle-income trap | middle income trap; Middle Income Trap; middle‐ income; Income traps; middle income trap (MIT); middle-income traps; middleincome; Middle-income economy |
| economic growth | Economic growth; Growth; Economic growth type; economic growth theories |
| innovation | Innovativeness, innovation policy |
| growth slowdown | growth slow-down; Slowdown; Economic slowdown |
| convergence | Convergence Hypothesis; Economic convergence; real convergence |
| technological capability | Technological capabilities |
| technological catch-up | technological catching-up; technological progress; Technology upgrading; technological change; Technological development |
| structural transformation | Structural transformation; structural transformation of economy; structural change; structural break; structural reform; Structural change process |
| productivity | factor productivity; productivity growth; aggregate productivity |
| industrialization | Industrial development; industrial upgrading; new industrial revolution; industrial revolution |
| total factor productivity | factor productivity |
Performance of themes in the first period (2009-2013)
| Topics | Number of Publications | h-Index | Average Citation | Centrality | Density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R&D | 2 | 2 | 173 | 40 | 65 |
| EDUCATION | 2 | 1 | 20 | 28.77 | 42.5 |
| STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATİON | 3 | 3 | 20 | 56.79 | 39.11 |
| LATIN-AMERICA | 2 | 1 | 6.5 | 41.72 | 57.22 |
| DEVELOPMENT | 1 | 1 | 4 | 36.61 | 146.67 |
| ASIA | 2 | 2 | 10 | 17.91 | 130 |
| TRADE | 1 | 1 | 46 | 5.11 | 25 |
| MIDDLE-INCOME-TRAP | 4 | 2 | 19 | 27 | 27.27 |
| INNOVATION | 3 | 2 | 6.33 | 26.33 | 25 |
| CHINA | 4 | 2 | 1.75 | 48.7 | 16 |
Themes' performance in the second period (2014-2017)
| Topics | Number of Publications | h-Index | Average Citation | Centrality | Density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLOBAL-VALUE-CHAINS | 3 | 3 | 22.33 | 27.61 | 35.42 |
| CAPABILITIES | 2 | 2 | 14 | 49.69 | 25.56 |
| GOVERNANCE | 3 | 2 | 6 | 31.85 | 17.5 |
| COUNTRIES | 2 | 2 | 4 | 29.13 | 86.67 |
| EMPLOYMENT | 2 | 1 | 19 | 18.07 | 31.11 |
| DEMOCRACY | 1 | 1 | 13 | 25.85 | 22.25 |
| DEVELOPMENT-COUNTRIES | 2 | 2 | 10 | 20.02 | 36.11 |
| LATIN-AMERICA | 4 | 2 | 8.25 | 14.3 | 29.33 |
| ASEAN | 2 | 2 | 4.5 | 16.61 | 49.58 |
| DEMOGRAPY | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.33 | 50 |
| GROWTH-SLOWDOWN | 3 | 2 | 26.67 | 25.89 | 7.58 |
| INNOVATION | 4 | 4 | 20.25 | 24.88 | 5.33 |
| MIDDLE-INCOME-TRAP | 4 | 1 | 1 | 23.66 | 1.27 |
| POLICY | 7 | 5 | 21.29 | 32.2 | 8.78 |
| R&D | 4 | 3 | 20.25 | 33.28 | 13.33 |
| REFORM | 10 | 6 | 19.7 | 31.67 | 8.73 |
| HUMAN-CAPITAL | 5 | 4 | 17.4 | 46.65 | 4.94 |
| INSTITUTIONS | 6 | 5 | 14.33 | 35.74 | 10 |
| ECONOMIC-PERFORMANS | 4 | 4 | 13.75 | 37.31 | 13.33 |