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Labor market transitions in Egypt post-Arab Spring Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Jingyuan Deng, Nelly Elmallakh, Luca Flabbi, Roberta Gatti
This paper examines Egypt’s labor market transition dynamics post-Arab Spring based on the two most recent rounds of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey conducted in 2012 and 2018. In addition to p...
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Are asset quality weaknesses holding back bank lending? Evidence from MENA region Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-06-07 Saibal Ghosh
The role of asset quality in impacting bank lending has been examined in several studies. What has however not been examined is how asset quality interacts with monetary policy to influence bank le...
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How sanctions work. Iran and the impact of economic warfare Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-05-02 José Díaz-Bahamonde
Published in Middle East Development Journal (Vol. 16, No. 1, 2024)
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Do non-natives catch-up with the natives in terms of earnings in Jordan? New evidence from a distributional analysis Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-06 Hatem Jemmali, Rabeh Morrar
Using a nationally representative dataset extracted from the Jordanian Labor Market Panel Survey (JLMPS) for the two years 2010 and 2016, we apply both the standard Oaxaca–Blinder and quantile deco...
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Institutional quality and inward FDI: empirical evidence from GCC economies Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-11-21 Andrzej Cieślik, Sarhad Hamza
This paper studies the determinants of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) across the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries between 2009 and 2017 using a modified knowledge-capital model of t...
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Capital flight and the real exchange rate: evidence from resource scarce MENA countries Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-11-20 A. Yasemin Yalta, A. Talha Yalta
We analyze the determinants of capital flight in three resource scarce MENA countries namely Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. Our methodology involves both the linear and nonlinear autoregressive distr...
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School performance and child paid work: evidence from West Bank schools Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-10-31 Sameh Hallaq, Ayman Khalifah
The current study aims to investigate the impact of academic achievement on child labor. The study utilizes survey data collected from Palestinian children in the primary grades (5th–9th) in West B...
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Oil dependency and happiness in net oil-exporting countries: is it a curse or blessing? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-10-31 Ly Slesman
The resource curse hypothesis postulates that countries endowed with and dependent on abundant natural resources tend to underperform in socioeconomic and development outcomes than those with fewer...
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An empirical investigation of COVID-19 impact on the finance and human resources of logistics and supply chain companies in Oman Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-09-12 Ashraf Mishrif, Asharul Khan
The impact of COVID-19 has badly affected most companies across the economy, with many of them claiming losses in revenue and human resources. As such claimed losses are hard to quantify, we aim to...
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COVID-19 shock 2020: impact on foreign and Kuwaiti workers and contrasts with employment, earnings and consumption during normal times Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-09-06 Ahmad Alawadhi, Mohammad Alali, Shaikha Al-Fulaij, Weam Behbahani, Marwa Al-Musallam, Sulayman Al-Qudsi
This paper uses micro-level data from the 2013 official Kuwait Household expenditure survey covering 2961 households; and three 2020 COVID-19 shock-related CEO, labor force and household surveys to...
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The impact of sanctions on household welfare and employment in Iran Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-09-06 Djavad Salehi-Isfahani
Wide-ranging US sanctions against Iran in the past decade were in large part imposed to harm the living standards of ordinary Iranians in the hope that their leaders would submit to US demands to l...
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How does political risk matter for foreign direct investment into Arab economies? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-09-05 Riadh Ben Jelili
The present paper extends previous work by Burger et al. ([2016]. Risky business: Political instability and sectoral greenfield foreign direct investment in the Arab world. World Bank Economic Revi...
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Who can work from home in MENA? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-05-24 Shireen AlAzzawi
ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the world economy. The need for social distancing, lockdowns, or complete curfews has meant that this impact varied significantly across segments of society. Those unable to work remotely, or who work in settings necessitating close contact with others faced a trade-off between their lives and livelihoods. This trade-off was especially pronounced
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Tunisia’s economic development: why better than most in the Middle East but not East Asia authors: Mustapha K. Nabli and Jeffrey B. Nugent Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-05-23 Roberto Zagha
Nabli's and Nugent's book is a multi-dimension review of Tunisia's growth and development. It follows several lines of enquiry which include a historical, political and institutional analysis, as w...
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The tale of three public debt crises in Tunisia, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire in the 1860s and 1870s Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-05-16 Mustapha Kamel Nabli
The paper provides a comprehensive comparison of the experiences of debt accumulation and of the debt crises which took place within less than a decade during the second half of the nineteenth cent...
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Do labor markets and the social contract increase female youth unemployment in the GCC countries? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-05-07 Wasseem Mina
ABSTRACT In the high-income Gulf Cooperation Council countries, the female youth unemployment rate is nearly double the male youth unemployment rate. The segmented labor market with a relatively inflexible national labor market segment – coupled with a generous social contract – provide job protection to nationals and further the benefits of the social contract. These two factors may shape national
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On the unfinished business of stabilization programs: a CGE model of Egypt Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-04-29 City Eldeep, Chahir Zaki
ABSTRACT Several emerging economies have embarked on structural adjustment reform programs that focused more on short-run-oriented stabilization reforms. Yet, longer-term structural policies that can shift their potential GDP were not fully taken into consideration. Thus, this paper contributes to the literature in three ways. First, we contrast the effects of stabilization and allocation policies
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Overeducation wage penalty for university graduates: evidence from the MENA region using machine learning techniques Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-01-24 Obbey A. Elamin
ABSTRACT This study estimates the causal effect of overeducation on wages using cross-sectional survey data from three countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Labour Market Panel Survey data from Jordan in 2016, Tunisia in 2014, and Egypt in 2012 and 2018 are used. Overeducation occurs when an individual works in a job that requires someone with less education. Our analysis focuses
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The impact of sand and dust storms on agriculture in Iraq Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-01-18 Hayatullah Ahmadzai
ABSTRACT Sand and dust storms are a common natural hazard in arid and dry areas of the Middle East and North Africa severely affecting human life and economic sectors, including agriculture production. In this paper, I explore the potential impact of sand and dust storms (SDS) on agricultural sub-sectors in Iraq by combining the household-level production and socioeconomic data with the climate dataset
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Globalization and obesity in the GCC countries Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-01-18 Zouheir El-Sahli
ABSTRACT The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have some of the highest obesity rates in the world. At the same time, the GCC countries have become increasingly integrated in the global economy as they attempt to diversify their economies. This raises the question whether rapid development and globalization contribute to obesity in these countries. To deal with the existing autocorrelation in
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Does the structure of state budget matter for Egypt’s fiscal deficit? An empirical investigation using an ARDL bounds testing approach Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-01-01 Israa A. El Husseiny
ABSTRACT The current study contributes to the existing literature by investigating the relationship between structure of the State budget and fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio in Egypt over the period 1981/1982–2020/2021. The dynamic relationship between the examined variables is tested using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration. The study finds an empirical evidence
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Lending relationship, small businesses and NPLs in Tunisia Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-12-16 Fredj Fhima, Ridha Nouira, Philippe Adair
ABSTRACT The banking system in Tunisia suffers from non-performing loans, fuelling the aversion of banks to credit risk and hindering the financing of SMEs. The research question tackles the ‘transactional lending’ versus ‘relational lending’ relationship between a sample of 10 Tunisian banks observed over 2005–2017 and its clients, and its impact on non-performing loans. The econometric analysis first
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Fintech market in Iran: an analysis of Fintech ecosystem and business models Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-12-05 Maryam Mirzaei
ABSTRACT The global economic is restructured by the wave of deepened technological revolutions brought by the worldwide Fintech storm. To overhaul the rapid growth and expansion of the Fintech industry requires solid data about its market structure. This conceptual study attempts to provide the first inclusive analysis of the Iranian Fintech market as a major player in Middle East. Financial services
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Chronic illnesses and labor market participation in the Arab countries: evidence from Egypt and Tunisia Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-11-27 Ebaidalla M. Ebaidalla, Mohammed E. Mustafa Ali
ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of chronic illnesses on labor force participation using labor market surveys data for Egypt and Tunisia. The study also investigates the reverse effect of labor force participation on the incidence of chronic diseases. We adopted the simultaneous equations modeling technique to address the potential endogeneity of chronic illnesses in the labor participation
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Economic growth and sustainability of public finances: evidence from Morocco Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-11-13 Karim Belcaid
ABSTRACT This study focuses on the sustainability of public finances in relation to economic growth in Morocco for the period from 1987 to 2019. We set out to explore therewith the non-linear relationship between government size, the level of fiscal discipline and economic growth. This issue at hand has attracted broad public interest and decision-makers’ attention in Morocco, especially after the
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Syrian refugees to Europe: are they different from the non-Syrians? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-11-07 Ruya Karci, Nukhet Dogan, M. Hakan Berument
ABSTRACT The conflict and violence in the Syrian Arab Republic have led to an increase in Syrians seeking asylum in European countries. In this study, asylum applications of Syrian refugees to European countries are examined, taking into account the geographical neighborhood effects, with annual data for the time period from 2009 to 2018. This paper also aims to compare asylum applications of Syrian
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Women’s employment exits in Egypt: the roles of marriage, children, job characteristics, and women’s empowerment Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-11-02 Maye Ehab
ABSTRACT Transition to non-employment is prevalent for women in the Egyptian labor market, particularly those working in the private sector. This paper analyzes women’s labor market transitions, particularly to non-employment and to other labor market states in the time around marriage and childbirth. We test whether individual characteristics, work characteristics, or agency affect women’s transitions
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Pension reform and unemployment outcomes Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-10-16 Mouna Ben Othman, Mohamed Ali Marouani
ABSTRACT This article discusses the interactions among pension reform, labor market and inter-generational distribution issues through an overlapping general equilibrium approach with imperfect labor markets. Workers with different ages are imperfectly substitutable and wages do not clear labor markets. Increasing contribution rates has a strong negative effect on welfare and unemployment, particularly
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Energy as a substitute for factors of production: case study of an oil rich economy Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-06-22 Kowsar Yousefi, Salman Farajnia
ABSTRACT Academic literature and policy notes place great emphasis on the relationship between energy carriers and factors of production. We have evidence from a subsidized economy that provides nationwide energy subsidies; with inferences that partly contradict previous findings. We use a panel of Iranian plants from 2004 to 2013. In 2010, the country conducted an energy reform to increase energy
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Microeconomic analysis of private returns to education in Egypt: an instrumental variable quantile regression approach Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-06-03 Shereen Nosier, Aya El-Karamani, Reham Salah
ABSTRACT This study provides updated estimates for the rate of return to an additional year of schooling in Egypt. Additionally, it addresses the major issues of heterogeneous returns and endogeneity of educational attainment. Instrumental variable quantile regression along with other models is employed for that objective. The paper uses the most recent issues of the Harmonized Labor Force Survey and
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Monetary policy in times of uncertainties: evidence from Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-05-24 Brahim Guizani, Agata Wierzbowska
ABSTRACT This study assesses the actual monetary policy stance in three countries in the MENA region, namely, Tunisia (between 2000 and 2017) and Egypt and Morocco (between 2007 and 2017), based on the Taylor rule framework. Especially, it explores the impact of transition periods and high uncertainties following the so-called Arab Spring on the central bank decision-making process. The results provide
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Credit bureaus and financial constraints do corruption matter? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-05-17 Mohamed Sami Ben Ali, Boubacar Siddy Diallo
ABSTRACT This study aims to assess whether or not the presence of credit bureaus is associated with more or fewer financing constraints while considering the interfering effect of corruption in a sample of 18 countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the period 2011–2014. We consider various financial constraint measures and corruption indices, and assess
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The relationship between banks’ credit quality, credit growth and social capital: evidence from Turkish banking sector Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-05-11 Abdulmuttalip Pilatin, Hasan Ayaydin
ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to empirically examine the relationship between credit growth, credit quality and social capital of all commercial banks operating in Turkey for a period of twelve years between 2007 and 2018 on the basis of 81 provinces. In order to measure social capital on a provincial basis, the independent variable SC1 was obtained by applying principal component analysis to the
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Beware of the echo: the evolution of Egypt’s population and labor force from 2000 to 2050 Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-01-09 Ragui Assaad
ABSTRACT I argue in this paper that although recent developments had temporarily reduced demographic pressures on the Egyptian labor market, such pressures will return with a vengeance in the next decade. The sizable echo generation born between 2005 and 2015 is the reflection of the large youth bulge generation born in the early 1980s; a reflection that was further compounded by rising fertility rates
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Disentangling the impact of trade barriers on wages: evidence from the MENA region Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-01-04 Nora Aboushady, Yasmine Kamal, Chahir Zaki
ABSTRACT This paper proposes a comprehensive assessment of the effect of different trade barriers (tariffs, non-tariff measures and services restrictions) on wage disparities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We look at wage disparities from three dimensions: industry premia, gender-based and skill-based disparities. We use three Labor Market Surveys for Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia
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Fiscal policy in times of high debt: tale of Lebanon Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-12-12 Nasser Badra
ABSTRACT This study empirically identifies fiscal shocks and traces their effect on GDP and its components using structural VAR framework in a highly indebted economy of Lebanon. Empirical findings of this study point to an inefficiency of fiscal policy in stimulating economic activities, stipulating that fiscal policy is conducted with non-Keynesian features. Government expenditure multiplier exhibits
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A decomposition analysis of total factor productivity growth in MENA countries: stochastic frontier analysis approach Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-10-14 Mushtaq Ahmad Malik, Tariq Masood
ABSTRACT The present study aims to examine the output and total factor productivity (TFP) growth by estimating a stochastic frontier production function for a panel of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, and to decompose TFP growth into technical change, technical efficiency, and scale efficiency. The empirical findings reveal that, while factor accumulation is the main driver of output
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An inquiry into the regional unemployment disparities in Tunisia: a spatial Durbin model Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-08-12 Khaled Jeguirim
ABSTRACT This study uses a spatial Durbin model in identifying possible causes of the overdispersion into regional unemployment in Tunisia. Data properties were identified using exploratory spatial data analysis which indicates significant neighbouring effects for several variables. Differences in socio-economic structure between regions explain in part these phenomena. Education is a key factor and
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Unemployment hysteresis in Middle East and North Africa countries: panel SUR-based unit root test with a Fourier function Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-08-04 Oladapo Gbenga Awolaja, OlaOluwa Simon Yaya, Ahamuefula Ephraim Ogbonna, Solomon Onuche Joseph, Xuan Vinh Vo
ABSTRACT Unemployment hysteresis of Middle East and North African (MENA) countries is investigated under a battery of unit root testing frameworks in the extant literature, including a recently proposed Panel SUR Dickey-Fuller-like unit root test with Fourier and Exponential Smooth Transition Regression (ESTR) nonlinearities. The Fourier function allows for smooth nonlinear breaks, while the ESTR nonlinearity
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Labor demand shocks, unemployment, and suicide: evidence from provinces across Iran Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-07-29 Hamid Noghanibehambari, Nahid Tavassoli, Farzaneh Noghani
ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the unemployment rate and suicide rate using data from all provinces of Iran and over the years 2009–2015. We exploit the variations in national industry-specific labor demand changes and province-level industry-composition as plausibly exogenous shocks to the province-level employment growth. Using a 2SLS-IV approach, we find that a 1
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New measure of catastrophic health expenditures with application on rural Egypt Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-07-28 Suzan Abdel-Rahman, Mohamed R. Abonazel
ABSTRACT Reducing Out-of-pocket (OOP) health payments is an essential element to protect households from financial risks and eradicate extreme poverty. This paper aimed to provide a new approach for measuring catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) by redefining subsistence spending to comprise the minimum acceptable level of all necessities. The new approach defined OOP health expenditures as catastrophic
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Growth in Syria: losses from the war and potential recovery in the aftermath Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-07-05 Sharmila Devadas, Ibrahim Elbadawi, Norman V. Loayza
ABSTRACT This paper addresses three questions: (1) what would have been the growth and income trajectory of Syria in the absence of war; (2) given the war, what explains the reduction in economic growth; and (3) what potential growth scenarios for Syria there could be in the aftermath of war. Conflict impact estimates point to negative GDP growth of −12% on average over 2011–2018, with output contracting
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The Magda Kandil Research Prize Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-06-05
(2021). The Magda Kandil Research Prize. Middle East Development Journal: Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 212-213.
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On the nexus between economic growth and bank-based financial development: evidence from Morocco Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-05-31 Ahmed Kchikeche, Ouafaà Khallouk
ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate the causal link between bank-based financial development and economic growth in Morocco between 2003 and 2018 using a vector autoregression framework. We test for causality between economic growth and four different measures of bank-based financial development in both the short and the long run. Our results show that bank-based financial development causes economic
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Global value chain integration and productivity: the case of Turkish manufacturing firms Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-03-25 Yılmaz Kılıçaslan, Uğur Aytun, Oytun Meçik
ABSTRACT In this study, we examine how firms’ positions (supplier, final, or both) in both global and domestic value chains (GVC and DVC) affect their productivity. This is said to be the first attempt in exploring the impact of the integration of firms on the GVCs on productivity generation in the Turkish manufacturing industry at the firm-level. The analysis is based on firm-level data obtained from
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Macroeconomic policies and the Iranian economy in the era of sanctions Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-03-25 Magda Kandil, Ida A. Mirzaie
ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of macroeconomic policies on the Iranian economy. The study covers the time between 1978-2017. The results illustrate the role of the money supply and government spending in supporting growth, although contributing to inflationary pressures in the long run, attesting to supply-side constraints. In the short-run, policies have aimed to provide support to the economy
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Remittances and disaggregated country risk ratings in Tunisia: an ARDL approach Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-03-25 Dorsaf Sridi, Wafa Ghardallou
ABSTRACT Tunisia is currently facing political, economic and financial problems which have an impact on the flow of remittances. This study is the first attempt to give a thorough analysis of a two-way relationship between workers’ remittances and ICRG disaggregated country risk ratings (such as economic, financial and political risks) in Tunisia in short and long run, spanning the period 1984–2016
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‘Macro-finance determinants and the stock market development: evidence from Morocco’ Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-03-18 Karim Belcaid, Ahmed El Ghini
ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the role of the macroeconomic outlook in explaining the returns volatility from 1998 to 2018 in Morocco. Our findings show that the inclusion of low-frequency macroeconomic information can improve the explaining ability, particularly for the long-term variance component. Information in some indicators which represent forward-looking variables (i.e. international economic
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Gendered patterns of industrialization in MENA Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-03-18 Yasemin Dildar
ABSTRACT This paper analyzes different trajectories followed by Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries with regard to feminization of the labor force. It uses accounting decomposition analysis for the manufacturing sector employment in eight MENA countries from 1983 to 2013. Overall feminization has been weak in the region, even for the best-performing countries. The trends in feminization are
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Effect of oil revenues on size and income of Iranian middle class Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-03-18 Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, Pooya Alaedini, Khayyam Azizimehr, Mohammad M. Habibpour
ABSTRACT This paper investigates the effect of oil revenues on the middle-class size and income in Iran. Following Kharas (2017. The unprecedented expansion of the global middle class: An update. The Brookings Institution), it uses an absolute measure to define the middle class as those who earn between US$11 and US$110 per day (2011 PPP). The study employs annual time series data for 1965–2017 and
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The Arab inequality puzzle: the role of income sources in Egypt and Tunisia Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2021-03-18 Caroline Krafft, Elizabeth E. Davis
ABSTRACT Egypt and Tunisia are perceived to have high levels of inequality, yet based on standard measures, inequality in these two countries is not unusually high. In this study we explore a different dimension of inequality in Egypt and Tunisia by using a more complete measure of income and decomposing inequality by income sources (factor components). We find that higher-income households have more
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Learning by exporting or self-selection into exporting? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-06-18 Youssouf Kiendrebeogo
ABSTRACT This paper explores the export-productivity relationship using firm-level data from Egypt over the 2003–2008 period. Previous studies using data from developed countries suggest that self-selection is the main driver of the exporter premium. Using a propensity-score matching difference-in-difference approach, we find that both labor productivity and total factor productivity are significantly
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Regional and income disparities in cost of living changes: evidence from Egypt Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-06-03 Shireen AlAzzawi
ABSTRACT Inflation has been rising in Egypt since 2007, and reached record levels in 2017. It was more pronounced in rural Egypt and likely hurt the poor proportionately more, since rising food prices were a major factor behind higher prices over this period. Moreover, rising prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), do not accurately measure changes in the cost of living. When inflation
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Is income inequality reflected in consumption inequality in Iran? Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-06-01 Hamid Noghanibehambari, Masha Rahnamamoghadam
ABSTRACT This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the evolution of labor supply, income, and consumption inequality in Iran using the 2005–2015 waves of the survey of Household Expenditure and Income (HIES). We document that the sharp decline in income and consumption inequality after the Subsidy Reform in 2010 was accompanied by a slight but persistent rise in respective inequality measures.
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Public debt and fiscal sustainability: the cyclically adjusted balance in the case of Lebanon Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-06-01 Kassim M. Dakhlallah
ABSTRACT Lebanon’s high debt-to-GDP ratio and persistent overall budget deficit expose the entire financial system to vulnerability. Unless the country generates enough revenue to meet its gross financing needs, the prospect of borrowing more remains strong. Given the complexity of the Lebanese economy and debt structure, the formulation of fiscal and monetary policy is difficult and costly. Hence
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The impact of the recent oil price decline on the GCC banking system Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-05-28 Viviane Naimy, Ruba Kattan
ABSTRACT This paper applies the econometric Chow test to determine the impact of the recent oil price decline on the GCC banking system for the period 2011–2017. Structural breaks in the performance of selected sample GCC banks, Saudi, UAE, and Qatar banks, are tested upon the occurrence of the recent oil price decline in 2014 for different aspects of bank performance: profitability, liquidity, credit
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How does poverty differ among refugees? Taking a gender lens to the data on Syrian refugees in Jordan Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-05-12 Lucia Hanmer, Eliana Rubiano, Julieth Santamaria, Diana J. Arango
ABSTRACT Many reports document the hardships experienced by refugees, highlighting that women and children are a highly vulnerable group. However, empirical analysis of how gender inequality impacts poverty among refugees is limited. We combine registration data for Syrian refugees in Jordan collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees with data from its Home Visit surveys to analyze
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Female unemployment in Lebanon: a time series analysis Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-05-04 Casto Martín Montero Kuscevic
ABSTRACT This research investigates the relationship between output and unemployment for Lebanon for the post-civil war period. Surprisingly, our results show that unemployment is not contemporaneously affected by changes in gross domestic product (i.e. no Okun’s Law), but only after a lag; however, in the long-run total unemployment and male unemployment are inversely related to changes in output
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Job creation or labor absorption? An analysis of private sector job growth in Egypt Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-04-22 Ragui Assaad, Caroline Krafft, Shaimaa Yassin
ABSTRACT Creating jobs, especially good jobs, is one of the greatest challenges facing Egypt. This paper investigates the nature of job growth in Egypt, including the firm, industry, and worker characteristics that are related to job growth. Using data from Egypt’s establishment censuses linked to various firm and labor surveys, we examine job growth in private sector establishments over 1996–2017
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Rising inequality and de-democratization Middle East Development Journal (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Hany Abdel-Latif, Mahmoud El-Gamal
ABSTRACT The literature on economic determinants of democratization has identified most importantly the positive effect of economic development and the negative effect of income inequality. We confirm these results using more recent data and dynamic panel models. In this regard, the 2018 World Inequality Report has noted that inequality is highest in the Middle East, where it has stayed stable at that