On the second day of the Economic Research Forum’s Annual Conference on Corruption and Economic Development, one of the parallel sessions covered Labor and Human Development, with an emphasis on Social Protection in Egypt and Iraq. Hania Sholkamy, the Chairperson, moderated the session, as Irene Selwaness discussed her research paper titled “Rethinking Social Insurance in Egypt: An Empirical Study.”
Considered one of the first papers in Egypt conducting empirical research on the state of social insurance for wage and non-wage workers, Selwaness shed light, using a probit analysis, on the current state of social insurance in the country, juxtaposed with other variables and social forces.
The second paper by Nejat El-Makkaoul de Freitas and Hillary Johnson, titled “Formal and Informal Social Protection in Iraq” assesses different forms of social protection in the country during the conflict, while taking into consideration social factors like poverty, education, and gender.
Nader Kabbani, the discussant, raised a few questions during the end of the session and provided both presenters, Johnson and Selwaness, with feedback. We asked Kabbani about the overall theme of the conference, and why it matters to address those issues at this specific juncture in the region’s modern history.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM-LM-ZDYyk&feature=youtu.be]
