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Identifying Structural Breaks In The Lebanese Economy 1970-2003: An Application Of The Zivot And Andrews Test, Charles Harvie, Mosayeb Pahlavani, Ali S. Saleh

Charles Harvie

During the 1960s and early 1970s the Lebanese economy was characterized by low inflation, high growth, sizeable balance of payments surpluses and small public sector deficits, which made it a highly attractive business centre. During this period the country was described as the Switzerland or Paris of the East. This macroeconomic stability did not last long, however, as the economy subsequently underwent fundamental structural changes during most years after the mid 1970s. The aim of this paper is to identify the timing of major structural breaks in the Lebanese economy by applying the Zivot and Andrews (ZA) (1992) procedure, using …