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on MENA - Middle East and North Africa |
| By: | Rashad, Ahmed (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management); Sharaf, Mesbah (University of Alberta, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Despite that maternal employment can increase family income; several studies suggest that it has adverse health consequences for children. The literature on the effects of maternal employment on children in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is sparse. In this study, we assess the impact of maternal employment on children’s health in Egypt, the most populous country in the MENA region. We use a nationally representative sample of 12,888 children under the age of five from 2014 Demographic and Health Survey for Egypt, to estimate the causal impact of mothers’ employment on their children’s nutritional status, as measured by the Height-for-Age Score (HAZ). We adopt various estimation methods and control for observed and unobserved household characteristics to identify the causal effect of maternal employment. These different techniques include Propensity Score Matching (PSM), and an Instrumental Variable Two Stage Least Squares approach. We find that maternal employment has a robust negative impact on child nutritional status in Egypt. However, the effect of maternal employment is understated when the Ordinary Least Squares and PSM are applied. More family-friendly policies for working moms are strongly needed in Egypt. |
| Keywords: | Maternal Employment; Child Under-nutrition; Instrumental Variable; Egypt |
| JEL: | I15 J13 |
| Date: | 2017–08–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:albaec:2017_007&r=ara |
| By: | Jamal Bouoiyour (CATT); Refk Selmi (CATT); Amal Miftah (CATT) |
| Abstract: | If Tunisia was hailed as a success story with its high rankings on economic, educational, and other indicators compared to other Arab countries, the 2011 popular uprisings demonstrate the need for political reforms but also major economic reforms. The Arab spring highlights the fragility of its main economic pillars including the tourism and the foreign direct investment. In such turbulent times, the paper examines the economic impact of migrant' remittances, expected to have a countercyclical behavior. Our results reveal that prior to the Arab Spring, the impacts of remittances on growth and consumption seem negative and positive respectively, while they varyingly influence local investment. These three relationships held in the short-run. By considering the period surrounding the 2011 uprisings, the investment effect of remittances becomes negative and weak in the short-and medium-run, whereas positive and strong remittances' impacts on growth and consumption are found in the long term. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1708.07037&r=ara |
| By: | Bakari, Sayef; Othmani, Abdelhafidh; Mabrouki, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | The design of this dissertation consists of shortening the nuance of pollution on Tunisian economic growth, taking into account domestic investment, energy consumption and trade openness. From 1971 to 2015, this impact is tested using the error correction model (ECM). The final consequences of estimating the long-run equilibrium relation show that pollution has a negative effect on economic growth in Tunisia but this facet is insignificant. This means that during this period pollution did not result in a reduction in economic growth, however, this result indicates that after an interval of years indeterminate pollution will negatively affect economic growth, The Tunisian State to demonstrate economic policies and instruments to protect it against the worsening of the future effects of pollution. |
| Keywords: | Pollution, Economic Growth, ECM, Economic Policy, Tunisia. |
| JEL: | O4 O44 O47 Q5 Q53 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80897&r=ara |
| By: | Bagir, Yusuf |
| Abstract: | Turkey received about 2.7 million refugees between 2011 and 2015. This paper examines the causal relationship between the Syrian refugee induced increase in labor supply and natives’ labor market outcomes in Turkey using the micro level Household Labor Force Surveys. The migration impact is analyzed in two distinct categories considering the motives behind the migration decision. The initial migration to the border regions is assumed to be completely exogenous and defined as the primary migration. Hence, a standard difference in differences strategy is employed to estimate the labor market impacts in those regions. On the other hand, migration from the primary regions towards the inner regions in Turkey (secondary migration) has suffered from the endogenous selection issues. To handle these concerns, I developed an instrumental variables estimation method following David Card (2009)’s ethnic enclave approach. I found statistically significant negative employment and wage effects on the low-skilled and less-experienced individuals in the primary migration analysis. The decline in the wages of informal workers is the main contributor of the negative wage effects. Secondary migration has no impact on the employment at all but there are statistically significant negative wage effects on the low-skilled and less-experienced workers. |
| Keywords: | Syrian Refugees, Turkey, Labor Economics, İnternational Economics, Migration Economics |
| JEL: | J1 J10 J2 J3 J6 J61 |
| Date: | 2017–08–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80803&r=ara |
| By: | Mustafa Özer (Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science, Kilis Yedi Aralık University, Turkey; Economics and Finance Department, University of Portsmouth, UK); Jan Fidrmuc (Department of Economics and Finance and CEDI, Brunel University, UK; Institute for Strategy and Analysis, Government Office of the Slovak Republic; CESifo Munich; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis; Global Labor Organization) |
| Abstract: | We utilize a natural experiment, an education reform increasing compulsory schooling from five to eight years in Turkey, to obtain endogeneity-robust estimates of the effect of male education on the incidence of abusive and violent behaviour against women. We find that husband's education lowers the probability of suffering physical, emotional and economic violence. The only aspect of violence not affected by spouse's education is sexual violence. Schooling also lowers the likelihood that the marriage was arranged against the woman's will, and makes men less inclined to engage in socially unacceptable behaviours such as drinking, gambling, and drug abuse. We also find that women whose mothers or whose husbands' mothers experienced domestic violence are more likely to suffer violence themselves. |
| Keywords: | Education, Domestic Violence, Autonomy of Women, Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference, Instrumental Variable |
| JEL: | H52 J12 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:17-23&r=ara |
| By: | Özer, Mustafa; Fidrmuc, Jan |
| Abstract: | We utilize a natural experiment, an education reform increasing compulsory schooling from five to eight years in Turkey, to obtain endogeneity-robust estimates of the effect of male education on the incidence of abusive and violent behaviour against women. We find that husband`s education lowers the probability of suffering physical, emotional and economic violence. The only aspect of violence not affected by spouse`s education is sexual violence. Schooling also lowers the likelihood that the marriage was arranged against the woman`s will, and makes men less inclined to engage in socially unacceptable behaviours such as drinking, gambling, and drug abuse. We also find that women whose mothers or whose husbands’ mothers experienced domestic violence are more likely to suffer violence themselves. |
| Keywords: | Education,Domestic Violence,Autonomy of Women,Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference,Instrumental Variable |
| JEL: | H52 J12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:109&r=ara |
| By: | Mustafa Özer (Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science, Kilis Yedi Aralık University, Turkey; Economics and Finance Department, University of Portsmouth, UK); Jan Fidrmuc (Department of Economics and Finance and CEDI, Brunel University, UK; Institute for Strategy and Analysis, Government Office of the Slovak Republic; CESifo Munich; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis; Global Labor Organization); Mehmet Ali Eryurt (Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies, Turkey) |
| Abstract: | We study the causal effect of maternal education on childhood immunization rates. We use the Compulsory Education Law (CEL) of 1997, and the differentiation in its implementation across regions, as instruments for schooling of young mothers in Turkey. The CEL increased the compulsory years of schooling of those born after 1986 from 5 to 8 years. We find that education of mothers increases the probability of completing the full course of DPT and Hepatitis B vaccinations for their children. The results are robust to variation in regression specification and including various individual and community variables. |
| Keywords: | DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus), Hepatitis B, Maternal Education, Vaccination, Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference, Instrumental variable |
| JEL: | H51 H52 I12 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:17-22&r=ara |
| By: | Özer, Mustafa; Fidrmuc, Jan; Eryurt, Mehmet Ali |
| Abstract: | We study the causal effect of maternal education on childhood immunization rates. We use the Compulsory Education Law (CEL) of 1997, and the differentiation in its implementation across regions, as instruments for schooling of young mothers in Turkey. The CEL increased the compulsory years of schooling of those born after 1986 from 5 to 8 years. We find that education of mothers increases the probability of completing the full course of DPT and Hepatitis B vaccinations for their children. The results are robust to variation in regression specification and including various individual and community variables. |
| Keywords: | DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus),Hepatitis B,Maternal Education,Vaccination,Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference,Instrumental variable |
| JEL: | H51 H52 I12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:108&r=ara |
| By: | Bagir, Yusuf |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of presence of foreign missions on trade using Turkey’s unique expansion in its foreign mission network (37 new embassies in 8 years) as the source of variation in a dynamic panel data setting. The dependent variable is the trade between Turkey and 186 countries from 2006 to 2014. The results indicate that presence of an embassy increases export value by 27% and this increase comes mainly from volume effect. Categorizing goods by the Rauch (1999) classification shows that increase in differentiated goods exports explains almost all of the change in total export value. There is no statistically significant impact on the exports of homogeneous goods. Replication of the analysis for imports suggests that presence of an embassy leads to 70% increase in imports and this increase is entirely driven by the homogeneous goods imports. |
| Keywords: | International Economics, Foreign Missions, Turkey, International Trade, Embassy |
| JEL: | F0 F00 F1 F10 F14 H0 |
| Date: | 2017–08–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80845&r=ara |
| By: | Berga, Helen; Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth; El Didi, Hagar; Elnasikh, Sara |
| Abstract: | The Nile is the lifeblood of northeastern Africa, and its roles for and interdependency with the national economies it traverses and binds together grow as it moves from source to sea. With rapid economic development—population growth, irrigation development, rural electrification, and overall economic growth—pressures on the Nile’s water resources are growing to unprecedented levels. These drivers of change have already contributed to stark changes in the hydropolitical regime, and new forms of cooperation and cross-sectoral collaboration are needed, particularly in the Eastern Nile Basin countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. As direct sharing of water resources is hampered by unilateral developments, the need has increased for broader, cross-sectoral collaboration around the water, energy, and food sectors. This study is conducted to assess and understand the challenges of and opportunities for cooperation across the water-energy-food nexus nationally in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as regionally across the Eastern Nile. To gather data, the paper uses an e-survey supplemented with key informant interviews geared toward national-level water, energy, and agriculture stakeholders, chiefly government staff and researchers. Findings from the survey tools suggest that most respondents strongly agree that collaboration across the water, energy, and agriculture sectors is essential to improve resource management in the region. At the same time, there is ample scope for improvement in collaboration across the water, energy, and food sectors nationally. Ministries of water, energy, and food were identified as the key nexus actors at national levels; these would also need to be engaged in regional cross-sectoral collaboration. Respondents also identified a wide range of desirable cross-sectoral actions and investments—both national and regional—chiefly, joint planning and operation of multipurpose infrastructure; investment in enhanced irrigation efficiency; joint rehabilitation of upstream catchments to reduce sedimentation and degradation; and investment in alternative renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar energy. |
| Keywords: | stakeholders, energy, water, food, Nile river, resilience, surveys, cooperation, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1655&r=ara |
| By: | Bichler, Shimshon; Nitzan, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | FROM THE ARTICLE: 'During the late 1980s, we printed a series of working papers, offering a new approach to the political economy of Israel and wars in the Middle East. Our approach in these papers rested on three new concepts. It started by identifying the Weapondollar-Petrodollar Coalition – an alliance of armament firms, oil companies and financial institutions based mostly in the United States – whose interests, we posited, converged in the Middle East. It continued by arguing that the interests of this coalition were best measured by its differential accumulation – i.e., by its performance relative to other large firms. And it concluded by showing that variations in differential accumulation predicted subsequent Middle East energy conflicts (our term). At the time, the papers seemed unpublishable. They were politically unaligned (neither neoclassical nor Marxist). They were non-disciplinary (belonging to neither economics nor politics – or any other social science, for that matter). And they were written in non-academic language (i.e., simply, clearly and to the point). But they made a scientific prediction: the Middle East, they argued, was ripe for another round of military hostilities and oil crisis. And when the 1990-91 Gulf War broke out, their theoretical frame-work suddenly sounded very relevant’. |
| Keywords: | arms,capital as power,differential accumulation,dominant capital,Israel,Middle East,energy conflicts,stagflation |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:capwps:201704&r=ara |
| By: | Marcella Alsan |
| Abstract: | Recent policy debates on closing the education gender gap in developing countries have focused on cash transfers, but standard models of intrahousehold allocation imply that reducing the opportunity cost of girls' schooling might also be effective. I test this prediction using quasi-experimental variation from a national vaccination campaign targeting under-five children in Turkey. I find gains in health and human capital among age-eligible children of both sexes. However, educational spillover effects accrue exclusively to their adolescent, ineligible sisters. These spillover effects are increasing if the mother works outside the home and in the number of young children in the household, and are absent if an elder sister is present. My results suggest reducing morbidity among preschool children may have the added benefit of improving educational outcomes for their adolescent sisters in the developing world |
| JEL: | I25 J16 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23702&r=ara |
| By: | Mohammad Reza Farzanegan (Philipps-Universität Marburg); Tim Krieger (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) |
| Abstract: | We study the short and long run responses of income inequality to the positive oil and gas rents per capita shocks in Iran from 1973 to 2012. Using vector autoregression (VAR)-based impulse response functions, we find a positive and statistically significant response of income inequality to oil rents booms within 4 years after the shock. The Autoregressive-Distributed Lag (ARDL) results show that a 10 percent increase in oil and gas rents per capita leads to 1.1 percent increase in income inequality in the long run. The results are robust after controlling for income-distribution channels in Iran. Our analysis can help policy makers to evaluate and accommodate the possible positive or negative effects of lifting sanctions on inequalities in Iran. |
| Keywords: | oil rents; inequality; VAR; ARDL; sanctions; Iran |
| JEL: | Q33 Q38 D63 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201733&r=ara |
| By: | Hajer Ben Romdhane (Central Bank of Tunisia); Nahed Ben Tanfous (Central Bank of Tunisia) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to compute the conditional forecasts of a set of variables of interest on future paths of some variables in dynamic systems. We build a large dynamic factor models for a quarterly data set of 30 macroeconomic and financial indicators. Results of forecasting suggest that conditional FAVAR models which incorporate more economic information outperform the unconditional FAVAR in terms of the forecast errors. |
| Keywords: | FAVAR, Conditional FAVAR, Conditional Forecast. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp15-2017&r=ara |
| By: | Slimani, Slah; Bakari, Sayef; Othmani, Abdelhafidh |
| Abstract: | Through this paper, we assess the sustainability of Tunisian external debt and its effect on the growth of the country. Based on two main approaches, namely the actuarial approach and the accounting approach, we check whether Tunisia was able to support its external debt during the period 1970-2012, while ensuring the balance of its economic fundamentals And its financial indicators. At a second level, we evaluate, empirically, the effects of foreign debt on the economic growth of the country in order to validate the thesis of over indebtedness for the case of Tunisia. Finally, we calculate, under a quadratic approach, the optimal sustainable external debt threshold that ensures regular economic growth and the sustainability of the country's fiscal policy. According to the actuarial method based on tests of stationarity and cointegration, it was not possible to verify, absolutely, the sustainability of the external debt during the period studied. Some tests verify sustainability, others have given contradictory results. The accounting method shows that this debt was no longer sustainable except for a few years, namely, 1972, 1974, 1996. This result reflects Tunisia's current situation of over-indebtedness, and the problem of external debt for Growth and economic performance. After calculating the external debt threshold, it seems that 51% is the sustainable threshold that allows maximum economic growth. This threshold of external debt stock can only be beneficial to the Tunisian economy if it is allocated to profitable investments that generate wealth and capital. |
| Keywords: | Growth, Sustainability, External Debt, Dynamic Analysis, Tunisia. |
| JEL: | A1 C32 E21 F0 F43 O4 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80954&r=ara |
| By: | Gunes, Cihan |
| Abstract: | In the Turkish economy between 1960 and 1980, is a period in which import substitution industrialization and the planned economy policy is implemented. In this period, trade union organization was allowed, various laws were enacted and applied. In this period, where various trade unions are established, the trade union activities of bankers who can be defined as white-collar workers are evaluated. It would be insufficient to examine the banking sector of this period without including the labor force that appears to be a social, economic and political power. For this reason, in this essay, During this period, the role of the labor force in the banking sector, trade union activities and the nature of these activities have been investigated. |
| Keywords: | Banking, Union, Strike, Lockout |
| JEL: | N8 |
| Date: | 2017–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80917&r=ara |