Narrow Results

For a sample of 94 firms, using data up to 1999, we find that retentions are more significant than dividends in determining prices of shares that are actively traded on the Egyptian stock market. However, for non-actively traded shares, the accounting book value is the most important determinant. Reductions in dividends are associated with a lack of liquidity and profitability. Dividend increases are linked to higher pre-tax operating profit effects, which outweighed post-tax effects. As to aspects that influence dividend payout ratios of actively traded firms, important factors are gearing and the market to book value, the latter a surrogate for investment opportunities. For non-actively traded firms, a more complex pattern emerges.

Employing an in-depth qualitative analysis research method, this investigation explored knowledge documentation and application practices in 14 Egyptian software firms. Although they appear to document and apply knowledge variably, the firms generally have limited capabilities in documenting and applying their knowledge. Knowledge that is not captured and documented cannot be reused effectively. To cope with the knowledge documentation problems, the firms have adopted techniques such as having multiple developers possess the same project-related knowledge, using multiple-year appointment contracts, leveraging their emotional capital and improving loyalty. Also, the firms have no formal strategies that determine and guide knowledge application in software development, which may leave the firms with significant portions of their knowledge capital inactive. Software firms need to leverage the Egyptian culture, which is rich in social and emotional capital, and develop strategies and systems in order to tap the knowledge that is distributed, scattered and embedded within their routines and the skills of their software developers into organisational knowledge bases and active knowledge capitals.

There are many underlying reasons justifying the importance of researching the informal economy from the academic and the practical perspectives. Evidence suggests that commercial activities generated by the informal economy could constitute an average of thirty percent of all commercial activities across the world with informal entrepreneurship consuming a big chunk of such activities. This research will focus on exploring the antecedents of informal entrepreneurship in Egypt as a developing country that is still undergoing a complicated political and economic phase that started in the financial crisis of 2008 passing by the revolution in 2011 and the subsequent corrective revolution in 2013.

This paper examines, using various econometric techniques, the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on the performance of Egyptian insurance companies listed between 2006 and 2011. We measure IC using the value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) approach and its components developed by Pulic (2000), and both a direct and a moderating relationship between VAIC and corporate performance are investigated. Our results show a direct relationship between (IC-VAIC) and the performance of Egyptian insurance companies, particularly with capital employed efficiency (CEE), and to a lesser extent with human capital efficiency. In addition, a positive relationship between IC (capital employed and structural capital) and performance in the prior and current years is found. Evidence also suggests the possibility of a moderating relationship between IC and physical and financial capital, which in turn impacts on corporate performance. Our study also reveals the importance of taking into account any unobservable heterogeneity and endogeneity issues when analysing corporate performance.

This paper presents a comparative study of private returns to schooling of urban men in Egypt, Iran, and Turkey using similar survey data and a uniform methodology. We employ three surveys for each country that span nearly two decades, from the 1980s to 2006, and, to increase the comparability of the estimates across surveys, we focus on urban men 20–54 years old and in full time wage and salary employment. Our aim is to learn how the monetary signals of rewards that guide individual decisions to invest in education are shaped by the institutions of education and labor markets in these countries. Our estimates generally support the stylized facts of the institutions of education and labor markets in Middle Eastern countries. Their labor markets have been described as dominated by the public sector and therefore relatively inflexible, and their education systems as more focused on secondary and tertiary degrees than teaching practical and productive skills. Returns in all countries are increasing in years of schooling, which is contrary to the Mincer assumption of linear returns but consistent with overemphasis on secondary and tertiary degrees. Low returns to vocational training relative to general upper secondary, which have been observed in many developing countries, are observed in Egypt and Iran, but not Turkey. This pattern of returns across countries seems to correspond to how students are selected into vocational and general upper secondary tracks, which is an important part of the education institutions of these countries, and the fact that Turkey's economy is more open than the other two. Greater competitiveness in all three countries over time seems to have increased returns to university education and in few cases to vocational education, but not to general high school.

This paper investigates the "children fare better" view, that children tend to be better fed if their mother has control over household decisions, using three household surveys in Egypt. It suggests an approach which might improve current economic analysis of household spending, by incorporating "Gender-Based Violence": there appears to be a link between undernutrition of household members, and violence against mothers (violent men often misspend a large fraction of household income on themselves). Child welfare improves dramatically if the child's mother earns enough for food. Unfortunately, few mothers in Egypt are employed, putting many children at risk. Agencies such as the Egyptian government could protect children, by paying child benefit to mothers or encouraging female employment.

We examine in this paper the transition from school to work and the transition to marriage among young men with at least a secondary education in Egypt, with particular attention to how the first transition affects the second. In examining the transition from school to work, we analyze the determinants of the duration of transition to first employment after school completion, as well as the type and quality of job obtained in such employment. We then move to an examination of the determinants of further mobility to a second job. In examining the transition to marriage, we investigate the effect of time to the first job and the time to the first good job, if any, on the timing of marriage, controlling for cohort of birth, education, family background and community-level variables. We find that the duration of transition to first employment has fallen over time, primarily because of the reduced availability of formal employment, especially public employment, making it less worthwhile for young men to remain jobless searching for such employment. Having access to work in a family enterprise reduces significantly the duration of transition from school to work as does the need to be the main breadwinner of the family. While education beyond the secondary level has no significant effect on the duration of the transition, it does significantly affect the probability of getting a good job and a formal job, as a first job. The hazard of transition to a second job is negatively associated with the time it takes to get a first job, but that is primarily because it is negatively associated with the quality of the first job and the fact that it takes longer to get good first jobs. Our findings relating to the transition to marriage confirm both the importance of early entry into the job market and of obtaining good jobs for early transition into marriage. However, if delayed entry (due to search) raises the hazard of getting a good job, it may actually be a worthwhile strategy, from the point of view of curbing the delay in marriage, for an individual to spend more time in job search.

This study illustrates the mechanisms linking national saving and economic growth, with the purpose of understanding the possibilities and limits of a saving-based growth agenda in the context of the Egyptian economy. This is done through a simple theoretical model, calibrated to fit the Egyptian economy, and simulated to explore different potential scenarios. The main conclusion is that if the Egyptian economy does not experience progress in productivity — stemming from technological innovation, improved public management, and private-sector reforms — , then a high rate of economic growth is not feasible at current rates of national saving and would require a saving effort that is highly unrealistic. For instance, financing a constant 4% growth rate of GDP per capita with no TFP improvement would require a national saving rate of around 50% in the first decade and 80% in 25 years! However, if productivity rises, sustaining and improving high rates of economic growth becomes viable. Following the previous example, a 2% growth rate of TFP would allow a 4% growth rate of GDP per capita with national saving rate in the realistic range of 20–25% of GDP.

The Central Bank of Egypt announced the flotation of the Egyptian Pound in January 2003. Yet, the somewhat stable exchange rate raises questions about its actual role in monetary policy. This paper assesses whether exchange policy significantly changed after the float. It first applies cointegration methodology using monthly data from 1981 to 2008 to show that there is a long-run relationship between the LE/US$ exchange rate and monetary fundamentals. A vector error-correction model shows that the speed of exchange rate adjustment to long-run equilibrium is slow and that there has not been a significant change in exchange rate determination after the float. Finally, Egypt's de facto exchange rate regime could be classified as "fixed" for several years after the de jure float was announced.

Political inclusion is a major concern for democratizing states. Among the many groups excluded and repressed by the former regime, which should now be included? Which should be excluded? And who decides? With the extraordinary events of the Arab uprisings that began in 2011, a wider range of political actors than ever before have become directly engaged in debates and processes of political transition. The new political institutions, however, remain unstable and the distribution of power between them unclear. This paper explores the inclusion-moderation hypothesis with special attention to Islamist groups. It examines the literature on Islamist moderation prior to the Arab uprisings and asks whether the central tenets of those arguments hold in the dynamic environments of the post-revolutionary contexts, particularly in Tunisia and Egypt, where Islamists have done well in free and fair elections. I argue that in unstable and changing institutional contexts, the logic of the inclusion-moderation hypothesis is less likely to be present, particularly when more extreme opposition groups challenge Islamists to prove their core commitment to a conservative religious political vision.

This paper investigates whether internal or external factors explain inflation in Egypt over the period 2003M1–2012M12. Using an autoregressive distributed lag model, results indicate that money supply and global commodity prices affect inflation in the long-run, while important short-run factors are inflation persistence, exchange rate depreciation and supply side bottlenecks. It is also shown that global commodity prices, especially energy prices, pass-through into headline inflation in Egypt with a short lag. These results take into account the different stationary characteristics of different time series variables and are robust to different model specifications. Policy recommendations include the necessity of reforming the government's energy subsidy bill, less monetization of the deficit and gradual liberalization of the currency in order to curb inflationary pressures in Egypt and put the economy on a more sustainable path.

The paper estimates the rates of return to investment in education in Egypt, allowing for multiple sources of heterogeneity across individuals. The paper finds that, in the period 1998–2006, returns to education increased for workers with higher education, but fell for workers with intermediate education levels; the relative wage of illiterate workers also fell in the period. This change can be explained by supply and demand factors. On the supply side, the number of workers with intermediate education, as well as illiterate ones, outpaced the growth of other categories joining the labor force during the decade. From the labor demand side, the Egyptian economy experienced a structural transformation by which sectors demanding higher-skilled labor expanded. In Egypt, individuals are sorted into different educational tracks, creating the first source of heterogeneity. Second, the paper finds that large-firm workers earn higher returns than small-firm workers. Third, females have larger returns to education. Formal workers earn higher rates of return to education than those in the informal sector, which did not happen a decade earlier. And finally, those individuals with access to technology (as proxied by personal computer ownership) have higher returns.

The study explains the export behavior of Egyptian firms under demand volatility in destination countries using detailed customs data and high-dimensional fixed effects. It finds that demand volatility negatively affects both the intensive and extensive export margins. The effects are particularly evident for large firms which reduce their export sales — especially over time — to more volatile destinations/products, are more likely to exit from exporting more volatile products and are less (more) likely to enter (exit) more volatile destinations. These findings confirm recent literature that emphasizes the greater elasticity of large firms to foreign demand shocks. They are also in line with risk aversion models in which the average risk premium increases with firm size. Given the disproportionate adverse impacts on large exporters, we find that higher demand volatility leads to lower aggregate exports, especially to geographically close and low trade costs countries. Accordingly, uncertainty in demand lessens the positive effect of lower trade barriers on exports.

This study provides quantitative assessments of the impacts of efficiency enhancement for different types of irrigation water under water scarcity conditions. It employs a single country CGE (STAGE 2) model calibrated to an extended version of a recently constructed SAM for Egypt 2008/09. The SAM segments the agricultural accounts by season and by irrigation scheme, including Nile- and groundwater-dependent as well as rain-fed agricultural activities. The simulations show that Egypt should manage potential reductions in the supply of Nile water with more efficient irrigation practices which increase the productivity of Nile water, groundwater and irrigated land. The results suggest a more ambitious plan to boost irrigation efficiency for summer rice would be desirable in order to outweigh any potential shrinkage in output and exports. Furthermore, even doubling all non-conventional water resources is not sufficient to compensate the potential adverse impacts of Nile water losses. This highlights the importance of irrigation efficiency for the Egyptian economy.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to examine the relative contribution of firm-level, industry-level and country level variables to working capital at risk. Working capital at risk is treated as the value at risk for a portfolio of firm’s current assets. As far as short-term liquidity is concerned, working capital at risk, being the maximum amount that a firm may lose at a certain confidence interval, must be the most important part that a firm’s management must focus on.

Design/methodology/approach: This study empirically examines the possible associations between wide range of variables and working capital at risk. The sample firms include 143 non-financial firms listed in Egypt stock exchange. The data cover the years 2000–2014. The statistical tests include the fixed and random effects, testing for linearity versus nonlinearity. The least squares dummy variables and discriminant analysis are utilized. The working capital at risk is classified into three levels: low, medium and high.

Findings: The general findings of the study show that cash conversion cycle and the leverage are the most significant determinants of working capital at risk. Both determinants have significant influence on the level of volatility of working capital throughout the three categories of working capital at risk.

Originality/value: This study offers a new approach that deals with working capital as a portfolio, rather than single ratios, that firm’s management must decrease its volatility (value at risk), therefore, short-term liquidity can be improved significantly. This approach can be considered a financial engineering in terms of monitoring and managing short-term liquidity exposure.

This chapter evaluates the life-course determinants of cognitive functioning among 1,003 women and men of 50 years and older in Ismailia, Egypt. Three questions motivate this analysis: (a) Do older women have poorer cognitive functioning than older men? (b) Do cognitive resources accrued in childhood and adulthood have net positive associations with later-life cognitive functioning for women and men? and (c) To what extent do differences in the amounts and effects of women's and men's cognitive resources account for gaps in their cognitive functioning? The results show that, compared to older men, older women have lower Modified-Mini Mental Status Exam (M-MMSE) scores for overall cognitive functioning. Cognitive resources in childhood and adulthood are jointly associated with the M-MMSE score. About 83 percent of the gender gap in mean M-MMSE scores is attributable to gaps in men's and women's attributes across the life course. Gender gaps in childhood cognitive resources, and especially schooling attainment, account for the largest share (18 percent) of the gender gap in cognitive functioning.

Women own an estimated 10 percent of the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Egypt. A nationally representative survey of some 5,000 MSEs in Egypt (2003/2004) shows that women entrepreneurs seem to start their businesses from a relatively modest base, having higher illiteracy rates, more limited educational backgrounds, and more limited training and experience than their male counterparts, and often more burdensome social responsibilities, along with modest financial and non-financial resources. Their modest beginnings affect the size of their enterprises, markets, economic activities, products, and performance. Women's enterprises are, on average, smaller and less efficient than men's; they are mostly in the trade sector; more likely to be informal; and more likely to use traditional production techniques. Those in rural areas face particular disadvantages and their productivity is particularly low.

Egypt has undergone a dramatic, albeit slow, economic reform and trade liberalization that has reduced its average tariff rates by more than 50 percent over 15 years. This study investigates the extent of gender discrimination in Egyptian manufacturing, and the impact of trade reform on the gender wage gap and on female employment. Results indicate that the gender wage gap, most of which is unexplained by worker characteristics, has widened over time. Results indicate that trade liberalization is associated with a tradeoff for women in the labor market: in industries facing a larger change in the degree of import competition, there is higher female employment, but only at the expense of a wider gender wage gap. Industries facing a larger change in the degree of their export intensity, on the other hand, have witnessed a decline in their gender wage gap but also a fall in female employment. These patterns have important implications for policymakers attempting to create more equitable labor market conditions.

Through a case study of three Egyptian Islamic banks, this study examines the concept of corporate social responsibility from an Islamic perspective, the role of Egyptian Islamic banks in social and environmental responsibility, and the extent to which they participate in sustainable development activities. The chapter provides a brief overview of the concept and dimensions of corporate social responsibility as well as the Islamic perspective of social responsibility and its fields and dimensions toward stakeholders, as well as the definition of Islamic banks, their nature, and how they support social activities and sustainability, and the differences between them and traditional banks. According to the report, Islamic banks in Egypt play an effective and pioneering role in sustainable development and social and environmental responsibility, as evidenced by the programs that these banks have established to participate in a variety of social projects and activities as health care, education, charity institution assistance, social housing, persons with special needs, Qard Hasan, the environment, and sustainability.

This chapter examines the constraints and opportunities for female entrepreneurs in Egypt. It describes the context in Egypt through general evidence about unemployment in the country and sheds light on the current reforms taking place to support women. It provides a historical overview on female entrepreneurship and explains how some factors bear on female entrepreneurship in Egypt. The authors build on this to establish how digital technology can provide the means to female entrepreneurs to overcome the constrictive challenges and barriers faced in Egypt. Within the remit of this chapter, the aim is to expound the role of social media in supporting Egyptian women entrepreneurs. It is projected that the findings from this study will have practical and policy implications for enhancing female entrepreneurial participation and supporting it in Egypt.