Challenges of Economic Development in the Middle East and North Africa Region

The following sections are included:

• Contents

The story of development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a tale of the interplay between two forces: external factors and a rivalry of interests. Over time, large public sectors, rather than markets have evolved as the primary mechanism to manage these forces — by enhancing certainty, real or perceived and mediating interests — with both intended and unintended consequences for growth and development. The aim of this book is to assess development policy choices in the post WWII era from the vantage point of these two forces, their interaction and the institutional framework which is given at any point in time. As such, the book surveys primary challenges facing policy-makers in the region today; namely low total factor productivity growth, management of volatile oil and natural gas revenues and rising water scarcity, post-conflict development, raising private investment and diversifying exports, lowering high unemployment, improving education quality and addressing poverty incidence…

The following sections are included:

• MENA: A REGION DEFINED BY DIVERSITY

• CHARACTERISTICS OF LESS DEVELOPED ECONOMIES – DOES MENA FIT THE MOLD?
  • Low levels of capital accumulation
  • High population growth
  • Nutrition and health
  • Primary commodity exports
  • Weak institutional structures
  • Common challenges–unemployment
  • Education for all?
  • Income inequality and poverty incidence

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND PLANNING

• EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF GROWTH

• MENA ECONOMIES: EARLY GLOBALIZERS

• EARLY REFORM EFFORTS

• THE INTERWAR PERIOD

• THE MENA GROWTH "TAKE-OFF"

• GROWING INDUSTRIALIZATION

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT AND REFORM PROGRAMS

• POLITICAL ECONOMY FACTORS IN ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS

• ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT IN MENA COUNTRIES

• THE GROWTH SLOWDOWN

• MENA'S RECENT GROWTH TAKE-OFF

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• MENA AND GLOBAL ENERGY
  • Oil prices and the entry of OPEC
  • The first oil price shock
  • The second oil price shock
  • Price decline of 1986
  • More recent price increases

• OIL WEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT
  • Fiscal policy: A critical link between oil windfalls and growth prospects
  • Oil stabilization and savings funds
  • Oil windfalls and development in the MENA countries: Algeria and Kuwait
  • Recent windfalls and fiscal policy challenges
  • Improving budgetary processes

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• WATER AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

• COMPETING USES FOR THE REGION'S SCARCE WATER-AGRICULTURE

• AGRICULTURAL POLICY IN MENA

• IMPROVING WATER USE AND RAISING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• THE CHALLENGES OF RESTORING GROWTH IN THE POST-CONFLICT ENVIRONMENT

• WEST BANK AND GAZA: STRUCTURAL SHIFTS AND THE INTIFADA

• LEBANON-BORROWING AGAINST THE FUTURE

• FROM POST-DISASTER RECOVERY TO DISASTER PREVENTION IN TURKEY: THE CASE OF THE 1999 MARMARA EARTHQUAKE

• LESSONS FOR POLICYMAKERS

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• GROWTH AND THE CLIMATE FOR ENTERPRISE

• FIRM ACTIVITY IN THE MENA REGION
  • Constraints on Firm Activity
  • Public Policy for the Private Sector

• THE CHALLENGE OF "GOING PUBLIC"

• FINANCIAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
  • Challenges for Further Development of MENA's Financial Systems

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• TRADE AND GROWTH
  • Why Do So Many Developing Economies Remain Protectionist?

• CHARACTERISTICS OF GLOBAL AND REGIONAL TRADE IN MENA COUNTRIES
  • Case Study: A Fresh Tuna Exporter in Yemen
  • Can Unilateral, Multilateral, and Regional Trade Integration Address These Problems?
  • Intra-regional Linkages: Strong and Growing

• THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION

• FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR TRADE POLICY

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT, AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH
  • Can Industrial Policy Promote Technology Transfer and Innovation?

• CHALLENGES OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN MENA ECONOMIES
  • The Syrian Textile and Clothing Industry
  • Plugging into Global Platforms – An Egyptian Textile Exporter

• PRIORITIES FOR INDUSTRIAL POLICY IN MENA COUNTRIES
  • Leveraging MENA's Natural Resource Base for Innovation

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• HUMAN CAPITAL AND GROWTH

• POPULATION AND DEMOGRAPHY IN MENA COUNTRIES
  • Closing the Gender Gap
  • A Demographic Window of Opportunity

• EDUCATION
  • A Framework for Education Reform

• EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE MENA REGION

• EDUCATION REFORMS IN MENA COUNTRIES

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• LABOR MARKETS AND GROWTH

• UNEMPLOYMENT IN MENA COUNTRIES
  • Job Growth
  • Labor Supply Growth
  • Wages
  • Some Characteristics of Labor Markets in Developing Countries

• LABOR MARKETS IN THE MENA REGION
  • Labor as a Quasi-Fixed Factor of Production

• DO MENA LABOR MARKETS ADJUST?

• RAISING MENA'S EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• POVERTY, INEQUALITY, AND GROWTH – THE USUAL LINKAGES

• POVERTY IN MENA
  • Who Are The Poor?

• WHO CARES ABOUT WHOM?
  • Pension Systems
  • Family Networks and NGOs

• FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION IN MENA COUNTRIES
  • Managing the Risks of Poverty Incidence in Rural Areas

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

The following sections are included:

• AID AND GROWTH

• A GROWING FOCUS ON RESULTS

• AID TO AND FROM THE MENA REGION

• EMERGING TRENDS IN ARAB DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE AND EMERGING MARKET DONORS

• AID EFFECTIVENESS IN MENA COUNTRIES

• CAN M&E SYSTEMS IMPROVE AID EFFECTIVENESS IN MENA COUNTRIES?

• TOOL FOR IMPROVED AID EFFECTIVENESS

• M&E FOR MARKET DEVELOPMENT: WIND POWER IN JORDAN
  • Program Evaluation: SME assistance, in Egypt

• FROM IMPROVING AID EFFECTIVENESS TO EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY-MAKING

• CHALLENGES FOR IMPROVING AID EFFECTIVENESS

• CONCLUSION

• REFERENCES

In the post-WWII period through the 1980s and 1990s, MENA economies experienced periods of growth acceleration and generally long term declining productivity. Much of this had to do with development policy choices – and the extent to which external factors, intertwined with public and private interests and institutional rigidities, helped to shape policy outcomes. In many developing regions, the post-WWII era was generally characterized by relatively high levels of interventionism and protectionism and the growth of social spending and government. The MENA region was no exception. Where it remains an exception today, relative to East Asian economies, for example, is in continued high levels of government intervention through implicit or explicit employment guarantees, subsidies and public credit allocation as well as maintaining a considerable government stake in production and distribution. This has been linked with a certain interrelationship between limited scalability in the framework of productive political and social relations, rising fiscal commitments and weak productivity growth…

The following sections are included:

• Index