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Growth without change: MENA needs structural transformation
By Hanan Morsy Although the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region had been enjoying a decade of relatively high growth just prior to the Arab Spring, the fruits of prosperity remained...more
Getting more women into private sector jobs
By Zafiris Tzannatos Two interconnected challenges for the Arab countries are how to increase the low participation of women in the labour market and how to reduce a longstanding reliance on the public sector...more
Air pollution and infant mortality: evidence from Turkey
By Resul Cesur , Erdal Tekin and Aydogan Ulker The widespread replacement of coal with natural gas as Turkey’s key energy source over the past 25 years has led to much improved air quality...more
Economic policy management: a new framework for MENA countries
By Rania Al-Mashat There is a clear need for MENA countries to create policy frameworks that will improve the credibility and effectiveness of economic policy-making...more
Going beyond Doing Business to foster job creation
By Jamal Ibrahim Haidar and Hedi Larbi The World Bank’s Doing Business rankings provide a useful benchmark, but making them a key policy goal is inappropriate for Arab countries where the reform agenda needs to be far more wide-ranging. more...
Inequality in higher education: Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia
By Caroline Krafft and Halimat Alawode Attainment of higher education is strikingly unequal in Egypt and Tunisia, and a little less so in Jordan. This column reports research showing that more...
Energy subsidy reform: progress and challenges
By Amyra Asamoah, Emine Hanedar and Baoping Shang Despite a growing global consensus about the need for reform of costly and environmentally damaging energy price subsidies, many countries remain resistant. more...
Creating jobs: East Asian success and MENA failure
By Shanta Devarajan Comparing the experiences of MENA and East Asia in recent decades reveals the delicate nature of the latter’s remarkable structural transformation: more...
Industrial and regional policies in MENA: survey of economists
By Mouna Cherkaoui An ERF survey conducted in September 2017 collected the views of leading economists on whether new industrial and regional policies are needed in the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey. more...