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Corruption: Cause or effect?
By Mirette F. Mabrouk It’s a truism to say that corruption is bad. Nor would it come as a surprise to most that the countries of ERF’s region have seen their fair share of corruption. Indeed, corruption appears to be... Read More
ERF 18th Annual Conference to focus on corruption and economic development
Corruption is unethical. But it may also have unexpectedly harmful effects on economic development, breeding negative work ethics and leading to waste and misallocation of resources, as well as adverse distribution of income and wealth. It is often associated with... Read More
“Understanding and avoiding the oil curse in the Arab world”, why is the topic important?
The conference was closed with a panel discussion moderated by Ahmed Galal, Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum. The Panel included Abdullatif Al-Hamad, Director General and Chairman of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development; Ibrahim Elbadawi, Economic... Read More
“Oil revenues may run down much before we exhaust the oil”, Paul Collier
At the end of the first day, I had the opportunity to interview Paul Collier, Professor of Economics, Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford. The following issues were addressed: Given that... Read More
International vs. Arab country experiences
The third session of the conference featured two presentations while focusing on “International vs. Arab Country Experiences”. The first one was presented by Thorvaldur Gylfason, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics - University of Iceland, on “International Experiences... Read More
Session VI: Institutions in natural resource rich economies
Given the significant role played by institutions with respect to oil management, the last session of the conference was dedicated to discuss “Institutions in Natural Resource-Rich Economies”. Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, Catholic University of Chile, addressed Fiscal Institutions in Resource-rich Economies while... Read More
Session V: The role of good governance
Moderated by Hassan Hakimian, University of London, the fifth session at the “Understanding and Avoiding the Oil Curse in the Arab World” Conference featured two presentations from Ibrahim Elbadawi (Economic Policy and Research Center - EPRC, Dubai Economic Council &... Read More
“Economic diversification and the role of the government in resource-rich economies” by Alan Gelb
The focus of the fourth and last session of day 1 was “Natural Resources and Development”. Alan Gelb, Center for Global Development, made a presentation on “Economic Diversification and the Role of Government in Resource Rich Countries”. Gelb highlighted the... Read More
Oil management in the Icelandic Constitutional Bill, by Thorvaldur Gylfason
Thorvaldur Gylfason, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics - University of Iceland, was recently involved in the writing of the Constitution of Island after the 2008 crisis. With respect to oil management, Gylfason highlighted the importance of one... Read More