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on Central and Western Asia |
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Issue of 2011‒04‒16
eight papers chosen by Bibhu Prasad Nayak Institute for Social and Economic Change |
| By: | Elasrag, hussein |
| Abstract: | Statistics show that SMEs represent 90% of total companies in the vast majority of economies worldwide and provide 40-80% of total job opportunities in addition to contributing largely to GDPs of many countries. For example, SMEs constitute more than 99%1 of all non-agricultural private enterprises in Egypt and account for nearly three-quarters of new employment generation. for Kuwait, this sector constitutes approximately 90% of the private workforce, including labor and imported an estimated 45% of the labor force, employment and national rates of less than 1%, in Lebanon, more than 95% of the total enterprises, contribute about 90% of the jobs. In the UAE , small and medium enterprises accounted about 94.3% of the economic projects in the country, and employs about 62% of the workforce and contributes around 75% of the GDP of the state. In addition, they account for 96% of the GDP in Yemen in 2005, and about 77%, 59%, 25% in Algeria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, respectively, during the same year.It is often argued that the Governments should promote SMEs because of their greater economic benefits compared to the large firms in terms of job creation, efficiency and growth.Following are the major driving force to strengthen SMEs in the Arab countries: (1) SMEs are the important vehicle in terms of employments and poverty alleviation. SME employs a large share of the labour force in many Arab countries. (2) SMEs make significant contributions to the national economy of the country; and Can be a tool to accelerate the growth of exports. (3) SMEs foster an entrepreneurial culture and make the economy more resilient to the global fluctuations. The aim of this research is to study enhancing the competitiveness of Arab small and medium enterprises. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness ;Arab small and medium enterprises |
| JEL: | D2 E19 E6 |
| Date: | 2011–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30018&r=cwa |
| By: | Mehmet, Babacan |
| Abstract: | Our analysis will discuss Turkey’s changing direction, if any, in terms of its trade orientation. This paper argues that Turkey’s trade sector has maintained its long-standing direction towards the major European Union (EU) member countries with only minor setbacks, while new dimensions in bilateral trade have emerged not only due to Turkey’s changing foreign policy considerations but also global economic transformations. Moreover, this paper argues that Turkey’s trade partners are subject to these changes, as the epicentre of the global economy shifts, i.e. to the East. In the first section, a brief introduction with regards to Turkey’s foreign trade under the AK Party’s administration -since 2002 will be provided. The second section will discuss the scope of regional and worldwide changes in trade patterns and analyze the recent shift in Turkey’s trade orientation in the context of Asia’s economic and political rise in early 21st century. The Third section will f |
| Keywords: | Foregin trade; economic policy |
| JEL: | F15 F59 F14 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29736&r=cwa |
| By: | Pan, Suwen; Hudson, Darren; Mutuc, Maria |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzed the effects of the U.S. domestic offset program on the world cotton markets using a partial equilibrium model following the assumption given by Brown et al. (2010). The results in our study are largely similar to those of Baker et al. and Brown et al., confirming that studyâs findings that ACES, and its domestic offset program in particular, would cause increases in the domestic prices of several agricultural commodities. However, the overall effects of this increase in the world price on total world trade is tempered by increased exports from India, Brazil, Uzbekistan, Australia, and Western & Central African countries. |
| Keywords: | offset program, cotton, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Q170, Q180, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea11:98557&r=cwa |
| By: | Onour, Ibrahim |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates efficiency performance of thirty six banks operating in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries during the period 2006-2008 . Our results indicate in general GCC banks showed considerable pure technical efficiency in the past three years with the year 2007 exhibit the most efficient year, as the number of pure technical efficient banks reached 33 percent of the total banks compared to 25 percent in 2008. The fall in technical efficiency in 2008 is due to simultaneous fall in pure technical efficiency and the scale efficiency. The output loss caused by scale inefficiency (fall of scale operations below optimum level) in 2008 is estimated 16 percent compared to 5 percent in 2007. Our results also indicate scale efficiency is inversely related to banks' size implying a major source of scale inefficiency in GCC banks is due to sub-optimal size of operations. It is also indicated in the paper that scale efficiency is inversely related to risk, implying effective risk management policies may also enhance scale efficiency. |
| Keywords: | الكفاءة الفنية; كفاءة الحجم |
| JEL: | C44 C02 C61 |
| Date: | 2011–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29991&r=cwa |
| By: | Farazi, Subika; Feyen, Erik; Rocha, Roberto |
| Abstract: | Although both domestic and foreign private banks have gained ground in MENA in recent years, state banks continue to play an important role in many countries. Using a MENA bank-level panel dataset for the period 2001-08, the paper contributes to the empirical literature by documenting recent ownership trends and assessing the role of ownership and bank performance in MENA while accounting for key bank characteristics such as size and balance sheet composition. The paper analyzes headline performance indicators as well as their key drivers and finds that state banks exhibit significantly weaker performance, despite their larger size. This result is mainly driven by a larger holding of government securities, higher costs due to larger staffing numbers, and larger loan loss provisions reflecting weaker asset quality. The results reflect both operational inefficiencies and policy mandates. The paper also provides a detailed performance analysis of foreign and listed banks. Foreign banks are fairly new in MENA, yet perform on par with domestic banks despite their smaller size and higher investment costs. Listed banks exhibit superior performance driven by higher interest margins even in the face of higher costs associated with listing. Taken together, the results do not reject the development role for state banks, but do show that their intervention comes at a cost. As such, there is scope to reduce the share of state banks in some countries and to clarify the mandates, improve the governance, and strengthen the operational efficiency of most state banks in MENA. |
| Keywords: | Banks&Banking Reform,Access to Finance,Debt Markets,Corporate Law,Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress |
| Date: | 2011–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5620&r=cwa |
| By: | Lucas Bretschger (ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Simone Valente (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | The theory of welfare accounting shows that comprehensive measures of net investment can be used to test whether an economy is following unsustainable paths of consumption. However, the notion of net investment used in most applied studies rules out technological progress and terms-of-trade gains from international trade. This paper considers an augmented expression of net investment derived from a dynamic growth model featuring international trade in different types of resource inputs, exogenous productivity growth in final sectors, and cost-reducing progress in resource extraction. Calculating augmented net investment for the world's top twenty oil producers, we show that the difference with standard non-augmented measures can be large and may even revert some established con- clusions regarding sustainability: prospects are more favorable than previously thought in oil-exporting countries endowed with large reserves like Angola, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. In oil-importing economies, future consumption possibilities are limited by the lack of expected rental incomes from future resource exports. |
| Keywords: | International Trade, Natural Resources, Net Investment, Sustainability, Technological Progress |
| JEL: | E22 F11 O11 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:11-144&r=cwa |
| By: | Annamaria Lusardi (Dartmouth College); Olivia S. Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School) |
| Abstract: | In an increasingly risky and globalized marketplace, people must be able to make well-informed financial decisions. Yet new international research demonstrates that financial illiteracy is widespread when financial markets are well developed as in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States, or when they are changing rapidly as in Russia. Further, across these countries, we show that the older population believes itself well informed, even though it is actually less well informed than average. Other common patterns are also evident: women are less financially literate than men and are aware of this shortfall. More educated people are more informed, yet education is far from a perfect proxy for literacy. There are also ethnic/racial and regional differences: city-dwellers in Russia are better informed than their rural counterparts, while in the U.S., African Americans and Hispanics are relatively less literate than others. Moreover, the more financially literate are also those most likely to plan for retirement. In fact, answering one additional financial question correctly is associated with a 3-4 percentage point higher chance of planning for retirement in countries as diverse as Germany, the U.S., Japan, and Sweden; in the Netherlands, it boosts planning by 10 percentage points. Finally, using instrumental variables, we show that these estimates probably underestimate the effects of financial literacy on retirement planning. In sum, around the world, financial literacy is critical to retirement security. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crp:wpaper:106&r=cwa |
| By: | Paul Missios (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada); Ida Ferrara (DEpartment of Economics, York University, Toronto, Canada); Halis Murat Yildiz (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we compare endogenous environmental policy setting with centralized and decentralized governments when regions have comparative advantages in different polluting goods. We develop a two-region, two-good model with inter-regional environmental damages and perfect competition in product markets, where both regions produce both goods. Despite positive spillovers of pollution across regions, the model predicts that decentralization may lead to weaker or stricter environmental standards or taxes, depending on the degree of regional comparative advantage and the extent of transboundary pollution. This suggests that federalism can lead to either a "race to the bottom" or a "race to the top," without relying on inefficient lobbying efforts or capital competition. |
| Keywords: | environmental policy; federalism; centralism; public economics |
| JEL: | D10 H23 Q28 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp027&r=cwa |