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on Arab World |
| By: | Sumru Altug; Fabio Canova |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between institutions, culture and cyclical fluctuations for a sample of 45 European, Middle Eastern and North African countries. Better governance is associated with shorter and less severe contractions and milder expansions. Certain cultural traits, such as lack of acceptance of power distance and individualism, are also linked business cycle features. Business cycle synchronization is tightly related to similarities in the institutional environment. Mediterranean countries conform to these general tendencies. |
| Keywords: | Business cycles, institutions, culture, Mediterranean countries, synchronization. |
| JEL: | C32 E32 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1314&r=ara |
| By: | Sally Khalifa Isaac |
| Abstract: | This research paper attempts to assess European responses to the Arab uprisings and, in particular, the introduced change in the EU policy towards its Southern Neighborhood. In specific terms, to what extent do security and strategic considerations still constitute the basis in the EU’s fundamental revision of its policy in the Southern Neighborhood? And to what extent is the need to safeguard security and strategic interests undermining an authentic EU role in building deep democracy in the region? The presented analyses provide a profound scrutiny and assessment of the new version of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), an empirical evidence of persisting security considerations post-2011 in Euro-Arab relations, and a more elaborated vision of future Euro-Arab relations, attempting to balance between three considerations: security, democracy, and governance. The paper argues that the EU response to revolutionary events in the Arab region has been weak and that the new version of the ENP results hollow. Wide disagreements among European capitals on how to react to Arab uprisings, the sudden influx of illegal migrants and refugees, increased energy concerns, and the rise of political Islam, especially in radical forms, appears to be the key reasons behind this weak response. The study advocates that a proactive and agile EU role in the Arab region post-2011 should not be considered as derived from a moral stance. Rather, it is urgently required as it is in Europe’s own interest. The historic events in the Arab region suggest that the EU should not merely revise its own ENP with the Southern Mediterranean. However, it should develop a comprehensive vision and an all-encompassing approach to the entire Arab region, from the West Mediterranean to the Gulf. Finally, this paper provides a number of policy recommendations, attempting to offer a frame for such a vision. |
| Keywords: | EU-South-Eastern Europe; EU-South-Eastern Europe; democratization; democratization; neighbourhood policy |
| Date: | 2012–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:kfgxxx:p0039&r=ara |
| By: | Youssouf KIENDREBEOGO |
| Abstract: | This study addresses on the relationship between export participation and firm-level productivity. Using comprehensive data for Egypt, we find that total factor productivity and labor productivity are significantly higher in exporters than in non-exporters. When we differentiate between pre-entry and post-entry differences in productivity performance and after controlling for potential endogeneity problem, we find that this exporter premia is driven by the learning-by-exporting hypothesis. We find no evidence that more productive firms self-select into export markets. Exporting makes firms more productive but more productive firms do not necessarily self-select into exporting. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Performance, Exports |
| JEL: | L60 F10 D21 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1365&r=ara |
| By: | Youssouf KIENDREBEOGO; Alexandru MINEA (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the effects of financial factors on manufacturing firms' export participation. Using a simple dynamic discrete choice model, we firstpresent the intuition according to which financial constraints reduce the probability of exporting. Then, based on a panel of Egyptian manufacturing firms over the 2003-2008 period, we estimate the impact of financial constraints on export market participation. Our main results show that, unlike financial liquidity, financial constraints reduce the export participation of Egyptian firms. In addition,financial constraints equally have a negative impact on alternative measures of the export activity, namely the export intensity and the hazard rate of entry into exporting. |
| Keywords: | Financial Constraints, Exports, Firm-Level Evidence, Sunk Costs |
| JEL: | D92 F10 D24 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1366&r=ara |