|
on MENA - Middle East and North Africa |
| By: | Mesbah Sharaf (Department of Economics, University of Alberta); Ahmed Rashad (Economic Studies and Policies Sector, Government of Dubai); El-Hussien Ibrahim Mansour (New York City College of Technology CUNY, USA) |
| Abstract: | Although son preference has been demonstrated in the MENA region with different manifestations and at several phases of human development, the literature remains sparse with studies that examined the early childhood phase. The current study aims to explore the presence of a gender bias in child nutrition status and its association with maternal son preference in three Arab countries; namely, Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen on which limited research has been conducted. Child nutritional status is measured using the Height-for-Age z-score (HAZ). To examine the presence of gender bias across the entire nutritional distribution, we utilized a quantile regression framework which characterize the heterogeneous association of each determinant across the different percentiles of the nutrition distribution. We use data from the most recent rounds of the Demographic and Health Survey on a nationally representative sample of children aged 0-4 years, for which we observe their health measures. The multivariate analyses include a set of HAZ determinants that are widely used in the literature. Descriptive statistics show that 21.5% of the mothers have son preference in Yemen compared to 19.10% in Jordan and 13.26% in Egypt. Results of the baseline OLS model demonstrate a robust pro-girl nutrition bias in the three countries. However, results of the quantile regression model show that this pro-girl nutrition bias is only prevalent at the lower segment of the conditional HAZ distribution for Jordan and Yemen and is prevalent across the whole conditional HAZ distribution for Egypt. We also find no statistically significant association between maternal son preference and gender bias in child nutrition in the three countries. Although son preference is manifested in several phases of human development in the MENA region, the current study finds no nutritional bias against girls in the examined countries at early childhood. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1309&r=all |
| By: | Jamal Bouoiyour (Pau Business School); Refk Selmi (Pau Business School) |
| Abstract: | On June 5, 2017 Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain (known as the quartet) announced they were breaking diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilizing the region. The more than two-year-old rancorous dispute between Qatar and its neighbours is forging a new Gulf, transforming what was a stable region of the Arab world. This study examines the regional business costs of this crisis. We focus our attention on the conditional volatility process of stock market returns and risks related to financial interconnectedness before and after the Saudi-led Qatar boycott. Our results robustly reveal that this crisis had the most adverse impact on Qatar together with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Although not to the same degree as these three countries, Bahrain and Egypt were also adversely affected. But the effects seem transitory. Overall, the quartet lobbying efforts did not achieve the intended result. Despite the vulnerability of its business, Qatar has demonstrated remarkable resilience post blockade. The availability of significant external and fiscal buffers and the strong financial sector allow Qatar to successfully withstand an escalation of the siege crisis. Interestingly, the diplomatic efforts of Qatar to circumvent the economic and political embargo on the country by a number of allies in the region seems to be working well, with the US government emphasizing its support for Doha. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1337&r=all |
| By: | Oznur Ozdamar (Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Economics, Department of Econometrics); Eleftherios Giovanis (Manchester Metropolitan University, Business School, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | A broad consensus among the academic, and other national and international institutions is that poverty cannot be measured and simply defined by the lack of monetary resources, but it is a combination of a range of non-monetary factors. These factors may act as constraints on individuals’ abilities to reach their capabilities; affecting their well-being. Hence, the socio-economic development of a household and a country’s overall welfare, cannot be limited to either economic or social factors, but it must be determined by combining both of these aspects. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) illustrates the importance of taking multiple dimensions of poverty into account. The first aim of this paper is to measure the poverty of youth, aged 15-24, in selected countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using the Alkire-Foster (AF) method. The second aim is to explore the determinants of the MPI in the youth population. The results of this study are mixed, as we find that the poverty is reduced in the case of Egypt and Tunisia, but it is increased in Jordan and Iraq. Policy implications are further discussed. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1339&r=all |
| By: | Aloui, Zouhaier |
| Abstract: | The interest of this paper is to show the influence of political instability and corruption on foreign direct investment and its different effects among MENA countries. Political instability and corruption are highlighted as a risk factor for the foreign investor who generates several costs for economic activity and remains a major determinant of FDI. The combination of political instability and corruption contributes to the revolution in these countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and weak economic integrations in general explain the low attractiveness of MENA countries for foreign investors. It is widely argued that good governance is an important factor of FDI. With the exception of studies of corruption, however, empirical research on the link between governance and FDI is limited, particularly in the context of MENA countries. Corruption and political instability are the governance indicators that seem to have the greatest impact on foreign direct investment (FDI). An increase in FDI has the greatest effect on development in politically stable regimes. Studies of corruption and its relation to foreign direct investment (FDI) have yielded mixed results; some have found that corruption discourages FDI, but others have found the opposite. The study covers the MENA region for the period 1996-2016. Using the panel data technique and the results obtained indicate a negative relationship between political instability and foreign direct investment and between corruption and FDI. |
| Keywords: | political instability, corruption, foreign direct investment, MENA countries. |
| JEL: | F21 K23 K42 |
| Date: | 2019–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:95732&r=all |
| By: | Badran, Mona Farid |
| Abstract: | The current study aims at analyzing the impact of technological change and innovations on the labor market in Egypt. Using the panel data of Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) 1998, 2006, and 2012 as well as the initial year of ELMPS 1988, a quadratic form of equation for employment is estimated and two approaches were applied. The first one is collaborated by applying the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation method and taking the difference between the rounds of the ELMPS database; three regressions were estimated for the following, namely total labor force (males and females), a regression for male workers as well as another regression for female workers on wage and wage squared. The second approach is estimated by applying the panel model techniques using the Fixed Effects Model as well as the Random Effects Model to analyze the impact of technological change on the Egyptian labor market. Results of the study reveal that the impact of technological change on employment is evident in the years 2006 and 2012 causing job polarization in the Egyptian labor market as revealed in the first approach. Moreover, the findings show that in the second approach there exists a J-shaped relationship between employment growth and wage and wage squared as control variables. The present study provides an overview of the related literature; moreover, it addresses and analyzes the impact technological change has on the labor market. Finally, the paper provides policy recommendations for forward-looking labor market policies in Egypt. |
| Keywords: | technological change,labor market,skills,digital economy,MENA,Fixed Effects Model,Random Effects Model,3rd Industrial Revolution,4th Industrial Revolution,Egypt |
| JEL: | J21 J24 L96 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsm19:201735&r=all |
| By: | Nergiz Dincer (Department of Economics, TED University); Ayça Tekin-Koru (Department of Economics, TED University) |
| Abstract: | The main aim of the current paper is to investigate the productivity dynamics of Turkey during the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) era to contribute to the ongoing discussions of long-term economic growth of the country, using a unique data set and firm-level granular productivity analysis. Furthermore, the deindustrialization of Turkey is scrutinized as a complement to the productivity analysis. Among a plethora of results, the following three are the most important ones in terms of their policy implications: (i) The aggregate productivity figures underestimated the productivity improvements in the manufacturing sector and overestimated the productivity losses in the services sector. (ii) The productivity growth of manufacturing sector in Turkey has been positive yet evolving towards medium-low tech manufacturing which displays the lowest productivity growth among all manufacturing sectors. (iii) While the surviving firms in the Turkish manufacturing sector have increased their own productivity in the AKP era, in the services sector surviving firms have a negative contribution to aggregate productivity growth. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1318&r=all |
| By: | Aysegul Kayaoglu (Department of Economics, Istanbul Technical University) |
| Abstract: | According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2018), one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence at one point in their lives. This situation is hardly any different in Turkey. Studies in the literature suggest that the greatest threat for women in Turkey are mostly inside their houses and the hands they fall prey to mostly belong to their partners. This study aims to understand the factors associated with the probability of experiencing not only physical or sexual violence but also emotional, psychological and economic abuse by women in Turkey who got married at least once, using a nationwide household survey. Firstly, theory of exposure reduction is not fully satisfied because we find that it is not only employment but also the quality of it that also matters for the violence. Secondly, theory of male backlash and extraction effect hypothesis are confirmed in cases of physical and sexual violence. Thirdly, in terms of testing the household bargaining model, we conclude that there is a U-shape relationship between economic abuse and income gap. Fourthly, women who are the only income earners in the household faces higher likelihood of physical and sexual violence compared to those who have same income with their husbands or who do not contribute to household income at all. Lastly, we establish that the cycle of violence theory plays the dominating role in the Turkish case among all other theoretical explanations used to explain the domestic violence. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1306&r=all |
| By: | LAMIA SABOUR ALAOUI (Economics and Business, SETTAT University) |
| Abstract: | In Morocco the concept of corporate social responsibility has become present in academic research as in the business world. Each company must integrate in its strategy, the implementation of a societal responsibility approach to attract new national and international market. The big Moroccan companies are aware of the importance of this trend, but this notion is still new for Moroccan SME (Small and Medium Enterprise). The purpose of this article is to determine societal responsibility practices in Morocco and in SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in the province of El Jadida in particular. SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in this region have an important role in national industrial development. The first part is devoted to defending social responsibility in general and in Morocco in particular. Next, we identify the social responsibility practices that differentiate the Moroccan small and medium enterprise. For the third part we will present the research methodology and show the results obtained from the survey. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Social Responsibility, SME, Development, Moroccan companies, The province of El Jadida |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:8511053&r=all |
| By: | Yusuf Emre Akgunduz; Altan Aldan; Yusuf Kenan Bagir; Huzeyfe Torun |
| Abstract: | The minimum wages in Turkey rose by nearly 30% in January 2016. We investigate the impact of the increase in minimum wages on export value and prices of firms. We use administrative employee-employer matched firm and transaction level customs data for the analysis. We calculate the potential exposure of each firm to the minimum wage increase according to their 2015 employment records and estimate the effects using a difference-in-differences approach. The results show that there is no significant effect on export prices suggesting that Turkish exporters are price-takers in international trade and producer costs have little effect on export prices in the short run. The impact on export amount is varying across firms depending on the firm size. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wages, Labor costs, Exports |
| JEL: | J23 J38 F14 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1920&r=all |
| By: | Eleftherios Giovanis (Manchester Metropolitan University, Business School, Department of Economics); Oznur Ozdamar (Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Economics, Department of Econometrics) |
| Abstract: | Poverty has been ongoing for many years and still continues to exist in almost all countries around the globe. The objective of alleviating poverty in many nations therefore, remains a significant issue. To comprehend the risks posed by the issue of poverty, its dimension and the process by which it can become deeper must be known, identified and recognised. A broad consensus among policy makers, academic and other institutions is that poverty can be a mixture of various monetary and non-monetary components. These components can limit people’s ability to achieve their potential and affect their well-being. Therefore, the socio-economic growth of a family and of the general welfare of a country should be defined in the combination of both aspects, monetary and non-monetary. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) shows how important it is to take into consideration various aspects of poverty. The first aim is to estimate the MPI in Turkey over the period 2006-2015. The second aim is to evaluate the effect of Regional Investment Incentive Scheme implemented in Turkey in 2012. We apply the Differences-in-Differences (DID) framework combined with the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach. The results of the study show a significant improvement on wealth, especially in the Eastern part of the country across the period we explore. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the Regional Investment Incentive Scheme had a positive impact on the poverty level in the Eastern part of Turkey, which is the main region of the policy’s interest. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1338&r=all |
| By: | Evren Ceritoglu; Seyit Mumin Cilasun; Ufuk Demiroglu; Aytul Ganioglu |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to find out whether there is exuberance in regional house prices in Turkey. For this purpose, we analyze real hedonic house prices and price to rent ratios countrywide as well as for 26 geographic regions at the NUTS2 level from January 2010 to January 2019. We perform the right-tailed unit root testing procedures developed by Phillips et al. (2015) and Phillips and Shi (2018) and use their real time date-stamping strategy to determine periods of explosiveness and implosion. Our empirical findings indicate that there were exuberance episodes in house prices in Turkey for multiple periods, where an important contributor to these dynamics was the largest housing market, Istanbul. We also detect exuberance in some other regions, particularly in the neighboring NUTS2 regions of Istanbul and in Izmir after around 2014. However, we find out that explosive price behavior turned into implosion in many regions starting from 2018. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic house prices, Price-to-rent ratio, Explosive price behavior, Right-tailed unit root tests |
| JEL: | C22 G12 R21 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1919&r=all |
| By: | Fateh Belaid (Lille Catholic University, Faculty of Management, Economics & Sciences); Ahmed H. Elsayed (2 Department of Economics & Finance, Durham University, UK, Department of Economics, Faculty of Commerce, Zagazig University, Egypt) |
| Abstract: | Policymakers in MENA Region face several choices to increase levels of renewable energy production under various risks and obstacles, including technological and financial severe constraints. This article investigates a crucial question, which has risen in the last few years both in policy and economic literature; that is, the role of various factors in shaping renewable energy production. The core message of this article is that political stability, governance quality and financial development may play an important role to spur renewable energy development in MENA countries. Accordingly, an innovative panel quantile regression model with non-additive fixed effect has been developed to analyse the main drivers of renewable energy production in selected MENA countries over the period 1984-2014. Our findings confirm that the effect of the political stability index on renewable energy production is clearly heterogeneous and supports earlier claims about the importance of political stability to foster the investments in renewable energy sector. Furthermore, we highlighted that governance effectiveness is a significant determinant of the renewable energy production in MENA countries. We notice that the effect is more pronounced at the lower quantile, indicating that impact of governance effectiveness has higher impact in low renewable energy production countries. Our results also argue that the development of financial sector has a positive and statistically significant impact on renewable energy production, across the renewable energy production distribution. It also argues that there is a complementarity relationship between government effectiveness and financial development in promoting the production of renewable energy production. From policy perspectives, our research allows the identification of possible ways of fostering the rate of renewable energy production in MENA Region. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1322&r=all |
| By: | Jala Youssef (World Bank, Cairo Office); Chahir Zaki (Department of Economics and Director of the French Section, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University) |
| Abstract: | In the 1990s, many MENA countries relied on adjustment and stabilization programs offered by international organizations. Surprisingly, these programs implicitly implied an orientation towards a market economy structure without an explicit adoption of competition laws. This in turn raises questions on the extent to which these programs help adjusting structural and allocation issues in the beneficiaries’ economies or rather only focuses on adjusting macroeconomic imbalances. To our knowledge, there is no study assessing the macroeconomic outcomes of competition laws in the latter. Against this backdrop, our main objective is to empirically assess the impact of competition laws in the MENA region on economic growth. Our contribution is threefold: first, we create indices to assess the effectiveness of MENA countries competition laws using Youssef and Zaki (2019) methodology. Second, we disentangle the effect of competition laws on growth by distinguishing between the structural and the cyclical components of GDP growth. Third, we control for the endogeneity of the competition law adoption. Our main findings show that in general, the overall assessment of MENA countries competition legislations seems to be broadly average with the Maltese and the Algerian legislations the best performers among the group while the Iraqi and the Yemeni legislations are the weakest. Advocacy seems to be an area of weakness. As per the effect of competition policy rules on economic growth in MENA countries, competition measures exert a positive and statistically significant effect on the growth of the trend component of GDP, while its effects on the cyclical component is rather insignificant. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1319&r=all |
| By: | Khalid M. Kisswani (Department of Economics and Finance, Gulf University); Amjad M. Kisswani (Department of Workforce Development and Organizational Leadership, University of Nevada-Las Vegas); Arezou Harraf (Department of Business administration, Box Hill College) |
| Abstract: | One of the short comings in the tourism literature is that research on the oil price-tourism receipts nexus is limited. However, the available studies, to the best of our knowledge, provide limited evidence on the negative effect of oil prices on tourism receipts. Nevertheless, the related literature did not consider the structural breaks in the analysis, which proven to be important in the empirical work. As such, in this paper, we study the oil price-tourism receipts nexus for selected MENA countries in the presence of structural breaks. This is done by adopting the autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) bounds test and incorporating the structural breaks. The findings show that the bounds test provide evidence of a long-run relationship between tourism receipts and oil prices after integrating structural breaks into the ARDL model for most countries. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1305&r=all |
| By: | Roos Elizabeth (Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University); Adams Philip (Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University) |
| Abstract: | The oil price fell from around $US110 per barrel in 2014 to less than $US50per barrel at the start of 2017. This put enormous pressure on government budgets within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, especially the budgets of oil exporting countries. The focus of GCC economic policies quickly shifted to fiscal reform. In this paper we use a dynamic CGE model to investigate the economic impact of introducing a 5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT and a tax on business profit, with specific reference to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Our study shows that although the introduction of new taxes improves government tax revenue, markets are distorted lowering economic efficiency and production due to a tax. In all simulations, real GDP, real investment and capital stock falls in the long-run. This highlights the importance of (1) understanding the potential harm caused to economic efficiency and production due to taxes, and (2) fiscal reform includes both government expenditure reform and identifying non-oil revenue sources. This allows for the design of an optimal tax system that meets all future requirements for each of the individual Gulf States. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1317&r=all |
| By: | Hulya Saygili |
| Abstract: | We explore the role of invoicing currency and global production integration on exchange rate pass-through to import and export prices, using 3-digit product level data classified by end-use and 2-digit sector level data displaying varying integration to global value-added trade from an emerging country, Turkey. The results show that, overall, rates of exchange rate pass-through to export prices are higher than those to import prices. The rare of pass-through is significantly higher for local currency-priced goods. The pass-through to the US dollar and euro-priced goods depends on the type of products traded and value-added trade. For consumption and capital goods, pass-through rates are significant and relatively high when they are priced in the US dollars. For intermediate goods the pass-through to euro-priced goods are higher than those to the US dollar-priced goods. In addition, sectors displaying a low or high association with global value chains tend to have a higher exchange rate pass-through than those placing in the middle range and the rate is slightly higher for sectors having lower global linkage. |
| Keywords: | Exchange rate pass-through, Currency of invoicing, Imported input, Value-added trade |
| JEL: | F1 F3 F4 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1917&r=all |
| By: | Sajad Ebrahimi (Monetary and Banking Research Institute); Ali Ebrahimnejad (Sharif University of Technology); Mahdi Rastad (Department of Finance, Orfalea College of Business, California Polytechnic State University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the effect of credit market disruptions on real decisions in a firm. We use firm-level data on employment for a sample of Iranian public firms. We construct a new hand-collected dataset on bank-firm relationship. As for the source of credit supply disruption, we use the 2011 Iranian banking fraud that impacted the credit access for connected firms. Using a difference in difference approach, we compare how employment is affected by credit supply for the impacted firms (connected to a troubled bank) vs. non-impacted ones (connected to a non-troubled bank). Our findings show that a sudden dry up in the credit supply channel is followed by a drop in employment, especially in smaller and more financially constrained firms. Our results highlight the importance of the credit supply channel and the hidden costs of financial scandals on the real side of the economy. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1316&r=all |
| By: | Zöhre Akyol (Ege University); Mehmet Tokatl? (Ege University) |
| Abstract: | Changing marketing practices, legal regulations and new media channels push brands to use different marketing tactics. In all changing marketing tactics, stealth marketing shines out due to restrictive law that forbids some brands and sectors to run a marketing campaign in Turkey. As a term stealth marketing is a technique to deliver the brand's message to the people who should not realize the message is received as a marketing or sales purpose. In this way, brands are able to deliver desired messages for their target publics without getting caught by any restrictive laws. As the main channel to be used under this purpose is social media that shines out compared to traditional. The main reason for that is when traditional media is easy to control by the laws but social media doesn't. In this paper, we made a research about how these banned brands run a stealth marketing campaign in Turkey. Three brands that run a clear stealth marketing campaign from the alcoholic beverages sector are chosen and their campaign and it's social media site (Instagram) are analyzed with content analysis method for six months of duration. Analyzes show that brands use made up names and identities for running their campaigns to avoid getting caught from laws. Also, it is clear that all made up names that brands use have very similar corporate identities with the original brand. According to social media analyzes, storytelling shines out as a main structure of brands use in their Instagram posts and creating an interaction is also shines out as the main strategy that brands use in their stealth marketing campaigns. |
| Keywords: | Stealth marketing, Turkey, Alcohol Brands |
| JEL: | M31 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:8511442&r=all |
| By: | Dorsaf Srdid (Higher Institute of Management of Sousse); Wafa Ghardallou (Princess Noura University) |
| Abstract: | Tunisia is currently facing political, economic and financial problems that are having an impact on the flow of remittances. This study is the first attempt to give a thorough analysis of two-way relationship between workers’ remittances and disaggregated country risk ratings (such as economic, financial and political risk) in Tunisia in short and the long run, spanning a period 1984-2016. In an attempt to achieve this key objective, an ARDL approach combined with CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests, Wald test, and Granger causality test are adopted to investigate this linkage. The results show the presence of a long-run relationship. In addition, and with reference to the empirical results it could be deduced that in the long-run, economic risks have a negative impact on remittances, whereas in the short-run, they have a positive impact. The financial risk increases remittances because it includes variables related to remittances such as exchange rate stability. On the other hand, a higher level of remittances carries a higher level of financial risk in the short- and long-run. These results should engage policy-makers to minimize this negative effect and to channel remittances towards investment purposes. Results also indicate that, in response to an increase in remittances, the political risk decreases in the short run but increases in the long run. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1326&r=all |
| By: | G. Gulsun Akin (Department of Economics, Bogazici University); Ahmet Faruk Aysan (Department of Economics, Istanbul Sehir University); Sezgim Dasdogen (Department of Economics, Istanbul Sehir University); Levent Yildiran (4 Department of Economics, Bogazici University) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to assess whether the driving factor behind the rising credit card indebtedness of consumers in Turkey is financial illiteracy. Using the results of a nationwide survey, the authors conclude that even though credit card borrowing frequency and debt amount are affected by components of financial literacy, being credit-constrained has a very pronounced impact. An exploratory analysis finds that the probability of irrational credit card borrowing is increased by being credit-constrained but not affected by financial literacy. These findings suggest that credit card debt is at least as much a result of necessity as nescience. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1315&r=all |
| By: | Özer ÖzÇelik (Kütahya Dumlupinar University); Öner GÜmÜs (Kütahya Dumlupinar University) |
| Keywords: | Economic Depression,Wealth Tax Act,Crisis,Wealth Tax |
| Date: | 2018–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02269516&r=all |
| By: | Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Universidad del Desarrollo) |
| Abstract: | What can be learned from the world experience about different macroeconomic institutions, to improve macroeconomic performance in countries that face high volatility and large unpredictable structural changes in international commodity prices, and in the MENA region in particular? In addressing this question, this paper starts by describing the recent evolution and current state of ten formal economic institutions in five key areas of macroeconomic management, for a large world sample and 6 regions. A review of the empirical literature (conducted separately for world and MENA samples) on the effects of the ten institutions on macroeconomic performance indicators (including growth, among several other variables) yields striking differences between institutions. A new Macroeconomic Institutions Frontier Index, which provides country-level measures of adoption of eight current best-practice institutions, is applied to quantify the distance of MENA countries from the international best practice in adopting frontier institutions. Then the paper focuses on the reverse causality, reviewing the international evidence on economic and institutional conditions that foster adoption of frontier macroeconomic institutions. Final policy lessons are drawn for strengthening macroeconomic policy making and institutional reform in MENA countries. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1311&r=all |
| By: | Iyad Dhaoui (Tunisian Institute of Competitiveness and Quantitative Studies) |
| Abstract: | Efficiency is becoming one of the central preoccupations of health sector due to mounting pressures on health care resources since many years. However, assessing efficiency at cross-country level has not been often directly evaluated by given inputs or outputs. In the first stage of the two-stage performance analysis, this paper assesses the technical efficiency of 18 health systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method for the years 1997, 2005 and 2014. We used both an input and an output-oriented approaches to measure the technical efficiency of those systems and we conducted a cluster analysis in terms of health production efficiencies and health outcomes of various countries upon three sub-periods in order to make the division of health production patterns of these countries clearer. The paper also analyzes the allocative efficiency upon the two approaches. In the second stage, the paper analyzes the determinants of health efficiency using a Tobit regression. Descriptive analysis shows that life expectancy has increased since many years, although the important variations in terms of economic development among the considered sample. The DEA results indicated that the average efficiency scores for all health systems were, respectively for the years 1997, 2005 and 2014, 79% and 83.6% and 78.7%, under the input-oriented approach; and 98.2%, 98.5% and 97.9% according to the output-oriented approach. Results showed that efficient frontier includes countries with good health outcomes and those with modest health outcomes. In essence, the empirical evidence rejects some hypotheses, such as the low-income countries cannot be a reference in terms of health efficiency. Cluster analysis showed that both countries on efficiency frontier and countries far from this frontier are different from year to year. Analysis revealed also that some countries may learn from countries which are more economical in their allocation of health resources; and more spending is not necessary the best option. For the Tobit model, results upon the two approaches revealed that private expenditure as a percentage of GDP and control of corruption impact positively and significantly efficiency scores while public spending as a percentage of government expenditure has a negative effect. Adult literacy rate and population density have a positive and non-significant impact. Moreover, results showed no correlation between the efficiency of health system and the income group to which a country is belonging, and we cannot judge this efficiency through the gross national income per capita. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1320&r=all |
| By: | El hussieny, Nader; Gharib, Heba Ibrahim; Khamis, Mohab Ibrahim |
| Abstract: | The mobile market has experienced a huge surge in growth across the globe. However, mobile network operators are still struggling to extend coverage to rural areas. Universal Service would appear to be an emerging concept; the reason for this is that Universal Service aims to support the telecom rural connectivity therefore increases the competition. The expanding interest in extending the mobile coverage to rural areas has promoted the advancement in the elaboration of universal services policies and mechanisms. Universal service policies tend to focus on projects selection criteria mechanisms and funding mechanisms to achieve the policy goals. In this paper, we proposed universal service mechanisms able to optimize and enhance the universal service project quantity and quality in terms of: 1) coverage area, 2) network growth and 3) BTS average cost, 4) Planned time, and 5) Technology used in order to connect the underserved and rural areas in an effective and efficient manner. This paper does not intend to deal extensively with all the relevant aspects of Universal Service, but seeks primarily a regulatory/policy approach. The paper starts by formulating the definition of Universal Service and outlining the changes in the concept of Universal Service from a policy and regulatory perspective. The paper reveals that connecting remote and rural regions has presented tough challenges for the telecom industry. The paper then looks into the possibilities for further developing Universal Service policies. Then the paper discusses universal service projects quantity and quality factors. The paper also discusses the different aspects of projects quality, as projects tend to follow the triple constraint: scope, schedule, and budget. The paper also discusses thoroughly how to measure the projects quality. The paper will measure the quality and quantity of universal service projects before and after updating the universal service policy to compare between both results and to prove that the updated universal service policy has an impact on the number of projects and the quality of them and by applying and developing the different concepts of universal service policies, the quantity and quality of US projects will be improved and enhanced. |
| Keywords: | universal Service,universal service policies,mobile coverage,projects quality,universal service projects,rural areas |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsm19:201757&r=all |
| By: | Mahdi, Mahmoud A.; Mossad, Omar S.; ElNainay, Mustafa |
| Abstract: | We present a new architecture design with implementation to handle the unified testbed federation System, created initially for all the faculties and research centers in Egypt. It is based on self-management testbed with synchronize data and shared interfaces. The architecture includes the functions required to enable, manage and control testbeds over multiple sites for research and educational purposes. The main target of this research is to propose an architecture for the federation of Internet experimentation facilities, which extends across a diverse research community. This paper comes out of Collaborative Research Cloud (CRC) project funded by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to create a unified testbed federation system to allow for remote access for existing research equipment in some faculties and research centers in Egypt as a bootstrapping to apply it later to all other research centers in Egypt. The main target of CRC project is to build a system that allocate resources to the authenticated users, keep track of system resources, and be accessed only by the authorized user. This paper presents the new architecture design for the federated testbed which includes the structure design, and implementation techniques of the main modules. The federation architecture is also designed with flexibility for further development and/or modification. The main federation system is divided into manageable processes that are grouped to sub-modules and modules that are built with abstraction. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsm19:201751&r=all |
| By: | Imed Medhioub (Department of Finance and Investment, College of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University); Mustapha Chaffai (Department of Management, High Business School, Sfax University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines herding behavior in four sectors of the Gulf Islamic stock markets. Based on the methodology of Chiang and Zheng (2010) and using daily prices for the GCC Islamic sectors from September 2013 to October 2018, results showed evidence of herding among investors in banking, insurance, hotels, restaurants, and foods sectors for the GCC Islamic stock market during the falling period when we consider a quantile regression analysis. In addition, we found that conventional return dispersions have a dominant influence on the Islamic GCC stock market during both falling and rising market periods in all sectors. We also found evidence of herd around the conventional sectors during down market period only in banking, hotel, restaurant, and food sectors. There is evidence of herd around the conventional sector during up market period for insurance and industrial sectors. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1324&r=all |
| By: | Magda Kandil (Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates); Ida A. Mirzaie (Department of Economics, The Ohio State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of macroeconomic policies in the era of sanctions on the Iranian economy. The results illustrate the role of the money supply and government spending in supporting growth, but contributing to inflationary pressures in the long-run, attesting to supplyside constraints. In the short-run, policies have aimed to provide support to the economy in the face of continued fluctuations with the oil price and spillovers from the geopolitical tensions attributed to sanctions. The exchange rate has played a key role in absorbing, but at times magnifying the adverse effects of these tensions. Continued deterioration of the fundamentals of the Iranian economy forced an official devaluation as the exchange rate proved to be misaligned with the fundamentals of the economy against the backdrop of the limited capacity of the Central Bank to continue to intervene to defend it. In the meantime, a parallel exchange rate market has been flourishing to satisfy the market’s needs for foreign exchange as culminated in the spread between the market exchange rate and the official exchange rate. A wider spread between the parallel market rate and the official rate has signified overvaluation of the rial and proved to be a major source of inflationary expectations and pressures. Wider spread has demanded frequent interventions by the Central Bank to defend the official rate and ultimately has forced an official devaluation of the exchange rate, further increasing inflationary pressures with negative effects on the output supply given high dependency on imports for consumption and investment. As the Iranian economy continues to be challenged by the effects of the unfolding sanctions, policy priorities should be focused on easing structural bottlenecks and enhancing domestic production capacity to reduce the adverse effects of the exchange rate devaluation on output supply and inflationary pressures. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1333&r=all |
| By: | Zakaria El Faiz (Mohammed V University); Said Tounsi (Laboratory of Applied Economics, Mohammed V University) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to test the relevance and the stability of Okun’s law for the case of Morocco over the period 2000-2014 using quarterly data. One of the features of our approach is the adoption of dynamic modelling to assess the sensitivity of cyclical unemployment over the periodes of expansion and contraction of the output cycle, as well as its response to sectoral output fluctuations. Our results show the existence of a structural break in the Okun’s relationship for the Moroccan case, and a high rigidity in the unemployment’s dynamic. Also, the asymmetry test of the relationship showed that cyclical unemployment is only linked to contractions in cyclical output, and more particularly to those in the tertiary sector. The policy implications of these results are important for three principal reasons. First, the assumption that “higher growth leads to lower unemployment” is not valid, at least, in the short term. Second, the introduction of policies to make the labour market more flexible is necessary, and finally, the adoption of supply-side policies is required to ensure a structural transformation of the Moroccan economy. |
| Date: | 2019–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1336&r=all |