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on MENA - Middle East and North Africa |
| By: | Ragui Assaad (University of Minnesota); Caroline Krafft; Colette Salemi |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution of initial labor market outcomes across cohorts of school leavers by education and socioeconomic status in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. As educational attainment has risen, youth in the Middle East and North Africa have experienced increasingly protracted and difficult school to work transitions. The decline in the public sector and the slow growth of the private formal sector have resulted in a limited supply of good jobs. These jobs are increasingly allocated according to socioeconomic status in Egypt and Tunisia, but not in Jordan. In Egypt and Tunisia, we find that the quality of initial jobs deteriorated for educated new entrants, particularly among those with lower socioeconomic status. Protracted school-to-work transitions, with substantial delays in obtaining the first job, remain a challenge in Tunisia. However, in Egypt youth transition relatively quickly to their first job, often into informal jobs, while in Jordan, the “waithood” phenomenon has been declining due to increased opportunities in both the public and private sectors. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1287&r=all |
| By: | Jala Youssef (World Bank); Chahir Zaki |
| Abstract: | Despite its several benefits, competition policy seems to lack the attention it deserves in terms of public interest and in terms of research in Arab countries. In the 1990s, many of them started to adopt economic reform programs that were broadly market packages aiming at reducing the role of the state, whereas competition laws mostly appeared in the following wave of reforms in the 2000s. However, the adoption of law does not seem to be sufficient in its own and what really matters is its implementation and enforcement. To date, many Arab countries have at least ten years of experience in competition policy, which we believe is a sufficient and suitable experience for assessment. However, to our knowledge, there are no cross countries studies assessing the market outcomes of competition policy in this group of countries. Against this backdrop, the objective of this paper is twofold. First, the paper aims at assessing competition policy in Arab countries in terms of rules (de jure) and implementation (de facto). For both the rules and implementation, we construct indices assessing three categories: enforcement, advocacy and institutional effectiveness. Second, the paper analyses the association between competition policy rules (de jure) and implementation (de facto) and competition outcomes (factual-based and perception-based). This correlation exercise uses our own created indices and the World Bank Enterprise Surveys data (WBES). Our main findings show that, in general, the overall assessment of our group of Arab countries competition legislations seems to be broadly average. In particular, Egypt and Tunisia had better scores in their implementation index for 2012 compared to their corresponding rules index, while it is the inverse in the Jordanian and Moroccan cases. Moreover, the Djiboutian and the Yemeni legislations are the weakest among the group. As per factual based competition outcomes, our competition indices are in general negatively correlated with market power, pointing out the importance of the deterrence effect that competition policy can play in limiting market power. In addition, on the perception-based outcomes front, our indices are mostly positively associated with perceiving more competition. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1301&r=all |
| By: | Aysegul Kayaoglu (Istanbul Technical University); Murat Erdogan |
| Abstract: | Drawing on data from a survey of 1,235 Syrian refugees, this article examines individual, cohort and province-level factors associated with both their labor market activities (employment, unemployment and inactivity) and occupation statuses in the Turkish labor market. In the sample, only 38.6% of Syrians are employed and 50.4% of those who are working are either in irregular, seasonal jobs or work as an unpaid family worker. We find that those who are younger, men, having a diploma higher than secondary school and those who had higher income levels before migration and have better Turkish language proficiency, on average, have higher likelihood of being employed. Moreover, self-settlement is found to decrease the probability of being unemployed and increase the chance of being out of the labor market at the same time, compared to refugees living in temporary protection camps. Women at all ages are found to have higher probability of being inactive compared to men in the same age groups. For example, at age 30, women have 50 percentage point higher probability of being inactive when other control variables are held constant at their averages. Moreover, refugees who are women, having a higher-level of education and Turkish language proficiency are found to have higher likelihood of being employed as a regular worker. We also observe that there are some cohort and province specific factors that affect both labor market activity and job status. We see that later cohorts and those living in Bursa are more advantageous. Among the border provinces, Gaziantep is found to have better prospects for the employment of refugees in regular jobs. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1290&r=all |
| By: | Maia Sieverding (American University of Beirut); Caroline Krafft; Nasma Berri; Caitlyn Keo |
| Abstract: | Since the onset of the Syrian conflict there has been considerable attention to reports of high rates of early marriage among Syrian refugee women. Yet assessing whether early marriage has increased among refugee populations has been complicated by data issues. Using nationally representative survey data from Jordan in 2016 and Syria in 2009, as well as qualitative interviews with Syrian refugee youth in Jordan, we examine changes in age at marriage and drivers of early marriage, as well as change in marriage practices more broadly, among Syrian refugees in Jordan. Our results show that the Syrian refugee population now in Jordan had younger ages of marriage than the national (pre-conflict) rate in Syria, since prior to their displacement. Rates of early marriage among the population of Syrians currently in Jordan have remained similar from pre-to post-conflict, both in descriptive terms and as measured by multivariate hazard models. Nevertheless, drivers of early marriage may have changed to some degree; as with previous literature, we find that poverty and security concerns have created additional drivers for early marriage. However, young refugee men also felt that the challenging economic conditions they faced as refugees created disincentives to marry. Age at marriage must therefore also be examined along with other changes in marriage practices; our findings suggest that marriage expenditures may be lower post-conflict, whereas independent residence upon marriage and consanguinity are both less common. Along with age at marriage, these other marriage outcomes have important long-term implications for women’s wellbeing. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1281&r=all |
| By: | Miryam Daoud Marrakchi (Université de Tunis); Hédi Essid |
| Abstract: | In the recent past years, Tunisia pursued a national policy on health which was directed towards the performance. Although the lack of adequate resources presents the most important constraint, efficiency in the utilization of available resources is another challenge that cannot be overlooked. The objective of this study aims to assess the technical efficiency (TE) of a sample of Tunisian public hospital using the non-parametric approach of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In this perspective, we started with measuring, comparing and analyzing the TE of the three categories of the Tunisian public hospitals, then to investigate the difference in the level of efficiency by district and finally to Guide the decision and the policy makers in their decision making process through the developed decision making tools. The data were gathered from a sample of 134 public hospitals throughout Tunisia. These would cover about 80% of the total number of Tunisian public hospitals. The model estimates the technical efficiency for the whole sample as well as for each hospital. The entire sample was operating on average at 0, 78 level of technical efficiency. Only 28% of the total hospitals were found to be technically efficient in relative term while the remaining were inefficient. The Public Health Establishment (PHE), the regional hospital (RH) and the District Hospital (DH) were operating on average at 0,9; 0,74 and 0,76 level of technical efficiency respectively. Only 45% of the PHE, 23% of the RH and 25% of the DH were technically efficient while the remaining were inefficient. The study identifies the inefficient hospitals and provides the magnitudes by which specific input per inefficient hospital ought to be more managed or to be reduced. It emphasizes also the disparity by districts in term of percentage of efficient and inefficient hospitals. Therefore, the highest percentage of efficient hospitals is also in the districts of North East (NE) and Center East (CE). |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1291&r=all |
| By: | Caroline Krafft (St. Catherine University); Susan Razzaz; Caitlyn Keo; Ragui Assaad |
| Abstract: | Jordan has experienced a substantial influx of refugees from Syria since 2011. The Jordanian government and the international community have expended significant resources to address the urgent humanitarian needs of these refugees and to mitigate negative impacts on the Jordanian population. Although several data sources describe the number and characteristics of Syrians in Jordan, a systematic comparison of the similarities and differences among the data sources has not been made. We seek to fill this gap using several data sources: the Jordan Population Census of 2015, the UNHCR registration database as of 2016, the Ministry of Education Management Information System of 2016/2017, and the Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey of 2016. We examine the number of Syrians in Jordan and their characteristics, including registration status, geographic and age distribution, and children’s enrollment status. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1288&r=all |
| By: | Mohamed Ait Oudra (CERAPE - Laboratoire de Coordination des Études et des Recherches en Analyse et Prévisions Économiques (CERAPE) - FSJES-Fès - Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Economiques et Sociales de Fès); Rachid Amirou (CERAPE - Laboratoire de Coordination des Études et des Recherches en Analyse et Prévisions Économiques (CERAPE) - FSJES-Fès - Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Economiques et Sociales de Fès) |
| Date: | 2019–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02085837&r=all |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (University of Barcelona); Aysit Tansel |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the effect of the level of English skills on the labour market outcomes of Turkish women, using data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007. By adopting a bivariate equation framework, we jointly model the effect of English skills on labour market status and, conditional on being a wage earner, on monthly earnings and occupational status. The multinomial equation that explains labour market status allows for a different effect of language knowledge on the probability of being employed, unemployed but actively looking for a job, an unpaid family worker or involved in household tasks. The results indicate that being proficient in English is conditionally associated with a higher probability of being employed as a wage earner and, to a lesser extent, unemployed but looking for a job, whereas it decreases the likelihood of being involved in household tasks. Moreover, there is a significant conditional correlation between having a high level of skills in English and earnings, which is only modestly reduced when job-related variables and (especially) occupation dummies are included as additional controls. Indeed, being proficient in English barely affects occupational status when selection into employment status is controlled for. Therefore, the knowledge of foreign languages (in this case English) seems to stimulate labour market participation and earnings capacity, but does not substantially affect the occupational position of women in the Turkish labour market. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1295&r=all |
| By: | Nesma Ali (Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf); Boris Najman |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of informal firms’ competition in determining the micro-level effect of cronyism on formal-firms’ productivity in the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Based on the World Bank panel Enterprise Surveys, we follow a constructive approach to indicate politically connected firms based on the findings of the previous literature. Using a propensity score reweighting – difference-in-difference estimator, we find that being a crony firm after the revolution could generate unsustainable gains in terms of productivity. This is mostly due to cronyism externalities that engenders a stronger intensity of informal competition, which jeopardizes any increase in productivity and creates a large disequilibrium at the firm level. We also provide evidence that crony firms’ excess in labor is the main channel through which this effect occurs. Hence, crony firm survival in Egypt depends on their ability to balance between the sustain provision of privileges and the threats imposed by the growth of the informal sector. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1292&r=all |
| By: | Fida Karam (Gulf University for Science and Technology); Chahir Zaki |
| Abstract: | With the ongoing debates on the Doha Agenda, micro-level empirical evidence has emerged to highlight the positive effect of services deregulation on the productivity and exports of manufacturing firms in developing countries. While the MENA region has been neglected in this literature so far, the current paper fills the gap by exploring the effect of service liberalization on the extensive and intensive trade margins of manufacturing and services firms in selected MENA countries for 2013. The results show that service trade restrictiveness weighted by the input-output technical coefficient of service sectors, has a significantly negative effect on both the intensive andthe extensive margins of trade. The results are robust to different measures of service trade restrictiveness, namely the tariff equivalent of services and the service trade restrictiveness index. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1296&r=all |
| By: | Maia Sieverding (American University of Beirut); Rania Roushdy; Rasha Hassan; Ahmed Ali |
| Abstract: | In Egypt it is estimated that the majority of the country’s 40 million urban residents, which include 11 million young people, live in informal urban areas. Previous studies have demonstrated that there is considerable diversity in informal areas in terms of physical characteristics and basic infrastructure, yet there has been much less research assessing access to health and social services in informal areas. Young people growing up in informal areas are a particularly vulnerable group, and their access to such services is critical for their wellbeing and human capital development. In this paper, we use a mixed methods approach to assess different dimensions of youth access to health, education and cultural/recreational services across informal areas of Greater Cairo. Results from the Survey of Young People in Egypt – Informal Greater Cairo showed that youth perceptions of the geographic accessibility and affordability of services was generally high, but perceptions of service quality were considerably lower. There was also inequality in perceptions of the geographic accessibility of services by neighborhood-level wealth status, particularly for education and health services. A more in-depth case study of service access in informal areas of Shubra el Kheima, which is part of Greater Cairo, highlighted that concerns about service quality in informal areas should be contextualized within young people’s broader sense of marginalization and neglect of the area. We conclude that policy towards upgrading of informal areas in Cairo needs to adopt a more comprehensive and participatory approach that addresses health and social services as well as basic infrastructure. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1289&r=all |
| By: | Iman Cheratian (Tarbiat Modares University); Saleh Goltabar; Carla Daniela Calá |
| Abstract: | Given the importance of entry promotion to prompt economic growth and promote structural transformation, this paper investigates the regional determinants of firm entry in the 30 Iranian regions, considering four different sizes -micro, small, medium and large-over 2000-2015. Using a new and unique database, we estimate panel non-spatial and spatial lag and error dependence models. We find that regional factors explain firm entry, but the impact is not homogeneous across firms of different size. We also find that most types of firms are influenced by the negative effect of economic sanctions during the sample period. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1285&r=all |
| By: | Toffano, Priscilla; Yuan, Kathy |
| Abstract: | Beginning in 2016, Israeli banks announced their intention to sever correspondent ties with their counterparts in the West Bank, citing risks around money laundering and terror financing. This paper contributes to the discussion about how to save Palestinian/Israeli transactions by proposing a private, permissioned distributed ledger system, jointly owned by the Palestinian and Israeli central banks, where Israeli and Palestinian banks can exchange e-shekels to settle payments. |
| JEL: | F3 G3 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:100470&r=all |
| By: | Ilham Haouas (Abu Dhabi University); Naceur Kheraief; Arusha Cooray; Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the causality between remittances (REMs) and financial sector development (FD) in MENA countries. We seek to fill a gap in the extant literature by exploring the inward REMs-financial development nexus across the MENA region via the bootstrap rolling Granger non-causality approach. To identify the changes in the interplay among variables, we apply a series of time-varying rolling window tests based on annual-frequency data from 1980 to 2015. Our findings reveal that any shock (demand, supply, or policy-induced) will have permanent long-run effects on selected indicators. The analysis also point out episodes of directional predictability from FD to REM inflows. However, the results evidenced significant windows of directional predictability from inward REMs to financial development. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1294&r=all |
| By: | Yilmaz Kiliçaslan (Anadolu University); Ugur Aytun; Oytun Meçik |
| Abstract: | In this study, we examine how firms’ positions (supplier, consumer, or both) in both global and domestic value chains (GVC andDVC) affect their productivity. This is said to be the first attempt in exploring the impact of integration of firms to the GVCs on productivity generation in Turkish manufacturing industry at the firm level. The analysis is based on firm level data obtained from Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and covers the period from 2003 to 2015. The data used in the analysis includes all firms employing 20 or more employees in Turkish manufacturing industry. Our findings based on both fixed-effects and GMM estimations show that while supplier position on domestic chain has negative effect on productivity, the same position in GVC vanishes this effect. Consumer position in the GVC, on the other hand, provide more benefits to SMEs than to large-scale firms. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1283&r=all |
| By: | Mohamed Amara (University of Tunis) |
| Abstract: | Using Tunisian manufacturing data between 1998 and 2004 and by referring to multilevel approach, this paper investigates the impact of agglomeration and individual characteristics on firm’s performance. The empirical results show the importance of considering both regional and firm characteristics when examining firm performance. They also support the validity of self selection and learning-by-exporting hypotheses. Urbanization and localization effects are significant and positive for firm’s export behavior, but only localization economies have a positive effect of firm productivity. However, the results of the quantile approach show that selection, rather than agglomeration economies in larger cities, better explain spatial productivity differences |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1297&r=all |
| By: | Imène Berguiga; Philippe Adair |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eru:erudwp:wp19-10&r=all |
| By: | Ghada Tayem (University of Jordan) |
| Abstract: | Firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) represent an important part of the economic activity in Jordan with 63.5% of market capitalization to GDP in 2016. However, there is little known about the ownership of Jordanian listed firms. This study is the first to document in details the ownership and control structures of more than 200 firms listed on the ASE. In this study I document the immediate ownership of shareholders who control over 5% of the votes in the sample firms. If principal shareholders are legal entities, I identify their owners, the owners of their owners and so on. Then, percentage control is computed using the weakest link rule to identify the ultimate controller at different cut-offs. If the corporation is identified as closely held I assign it one of the following identities: Family, Foreign, State, Widely Held Financial Institution, Widely Held Corporation and other. The study shows that around one third of listed firms are single firms with virtually no deviation between ownership and control. Single firms are mostly owned by families. The other two thirds of listed firms are group affiliated. In some cases control of group affiliated firms is enhanced by their ultimate controllers by the use of pyramids and cross holdings which leads to a diversion of voting rights and cash flow rights especially at the 5% and 10% levels. The control of group affiliated firms is mostly in the hands of families with some groups controlled by foreigners (mainly from the Saudi Arabia) and the state. Finally, corporate wealth is concentrated among a small number of investors, mostly families. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1298&r=all |
| By: | Magda Kandil (Central Bank of the UAE); Minko Markovski |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to identify whether the oil price fall to a “new normal” in mid-September 2014 has had an impact on banks’ performance in the UAE, such as Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) in addition to credit and deposit growth. The sample is for a sample of 22 national banks in the country over a period of 15 quarters. The oil price fall has had a negative structural break impact on all four banking indicators. In addition, the analysis evaluates the difference in ROA, ROE and creditand deposit growth by bank type, conventional vs. Islamic banks, across the sample of 22 banks. The results indicate that Islamic banks have a higher lending and deposit growth rates, however conventional banks tend to have better indicators of performance. Further, the oil price fall has impacted banks’ performance adversely, and the growth of assets and liabilities as a result of the slowdown in economic activity, fiscal consolidation, and decreasing levels of employment and corporate profitability. Further, Islamic banks, judged by lending and deposit growth, have managed to tailor their products to cater to a growing demand. However growth objectives appear to have reduced the margins of return in Islamic banks, compared to conventional banks. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1284&r=all |
| By: | Bitzinger, Richard |
| Abstract: | Israel and Singapore are both countries with small populations and no strategic depth, and both see technology as a crucial force multiplier when it comes to national security. Israel, however, has been much more successful than Singapore in developing a range of indigenous military-technological innovations. The reasons are both geostrategic and cultural. Israel faces a much more looming and imminent threat which demands more military-technological innovation. Moreover, Israel’s informal and anti-hierarchical society is much more supportive than Singapore’s when it comes to risk-taking and experimentation. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Israel, Singapore, defense innovation, military-technological innovation, indigenous industry |
| Date: | 2018–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt7vp2x155&r=all |
| By: | Adamsky, Dmitry |
| Abstract: | The brief reflects on the evolution of the Israeli approach to military innovation and describes its proclivities, in order to enable comparative analysis and a more generalizable analytical framework. It first describes the structural factors that account for the Israeli fixation on the military-industrial complex and defense innovation; then it outlines the social-organizational factors, which have enabled and conditioned its realization. It concludes with an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the Israeli approach and a review of recent trends. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, defense innovation, Israel, qualitative military edge |
| Date: | 2018–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt4t07267h&r=all |
| By: | Mohammed Elhaj Mustafa (University of Kassala); Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the factors that influence the participation of the informal workers in health insurance program in two Sudanese states, namely, Kassala and Khartoum. To this end, the study relies on primary data collected from 742 informal workers in these two states. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques have beenadopted to carry out the intended investigation. The analysis indicates that factors such as respondent’ age, wealth status, chronic disease status, morbidity, health insurance awareness, health-seeking behavior and proximity to health care facilities arethe most significant factors affecting informal workers’ engagement in health insurance system. The result also reveals that being residing in urban areas lowers the probability of joining health insurance membership in the full, Kassala and Khartoum samples. Both monetary income and average years of schooling are found to contribute positively in raising the likelihood of voluntary enrollment in health insurance. These findings still hold under different robustness checks, confirming the existence of barriers that prevent a huge portion of the informal workers from voluntary enrollment in health insurance. Finally, the paper ends with some recommendations aimedat enhancing the role of NHIF in accommodating the informal workers and achieving universal health coverage. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1300&r=all |