Suchergebnisse

Abstract
The Arab Spring (AS) marked an unprecedented event in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and it generated political and economic uncertainties and triggered violent conflicts and political rifts. This paper empirically examines the short-run and long-run effects of the AS on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to the MENA region and to individual MENA countries. The empirical analysis is implemented through the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator for dynamic panel models, using different empirical specifications. The benchmark results show that the AS has led to important reductions in FDI inflows to the MENA region. A more detailed empirical analysis reveals significant variations in the AS effects on FDI inflows across MENA countries and it underscores distinct patterns over different time periods. These findings imply that governments in the MENA region are required to maintain political stability, and to adopt distinctive policies that lessen the adverse implications of the AS and that set favorable conditions for FDI inflows in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

AbstractThe Arab Spring (AS) event characterized the recent history of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It brought about various economic, political, and social conditions and transformations that affected women's well‐being and their status and participation in the labour market. Accordingly, this paper examines the short‐run and the long‐run effects of the AS on female labour force participation (FLFP) rates in the MENA region. The empirical analysis is implemented through the generalized method of moments (GMM) system estimator for dynamic panel models, using the basic (one‐step) and the two‐step approaches over different empirical specifications. The benchmark empirical results show that the AS is associated with moderate average increases in FLFP rates in the MENA region. The empirical analysis subsequently emphasizes significant variations and distinct patterns in the AS effects on FLFP rates across MENA countries, and it ties these findings to the AS‐related economic, political and social circumstances in these countries.

The implementation of a Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) is normally accompanied with a rise in market competition levels, in domestic agricultural markets through increases in imports and in foreign agricultural markets through increases in exports. These effects are expected to induce adjustments in agricultural technology and productivity in the importing and exporting countries. This paper analyzes the implications of these adjustments in the context of Viner's (The Customs Union Issue. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: New York, NY, 1950) conventional partial equilibrium framework with perfectly elastic foreign supply schedules faced by the importing member country. It also examines these implications in the context of Pomfret's (Review of World Economics, 122(3): 439-465, 1986) extended partial equilibrium framework depicting upward-sloping foreign supply schedules for the importing member country. The analysis underscores important changes and redistributions through the RTA's initial benefits and losses, following the RTA-induced adjustments in agricultural technology and productivity. Some analytical considerations are also discussed in the context of vertical agricultural markets. Finally, an empirical investigation is carried out, revealing different implications of membership in the European Union (EU) and its predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC), for productivity in the agricultural sector.

Egyptian youth played a central role in the Arab Spring (AS) uprisings, yearning for changes in the political system and for better economic conditions. This paper investigates the perceptions of young Egyptians about the AS. The empirical analysis uses a bivariate ordered probit model to examine the factors influencing these perceptions through proxies that cover political, social, and economic conditions. The results reveal that social values and ideological characteristics matter more than the standard socio-economic attributes in understanding the perceptions of young Egyptians. They indicate that individuals with secularist, non-traditionalist, and gender equality inclinations formed more favourable perceptions about the AS. Also, they suggest that the AS has led to unfavourable perceived circumstances for the Arab Nationalism and pan-Islamism ideologies, and propitious perceived conditions for further connection with the global system. These findings signal that the AS may have set a path toward a significant transformation in the Egyptian society.

This paper analyzes the exporting behaviour of manufacturing firms located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys Database. It specifically examines the factors that determine the probability of exporting and the export intensity of these firms. The empirical specification is represented through a country-specific effect model and through a model with country variables. The empirical results reveal significant positive effects of private foreign ownership, information and communication technology, and firm size on the probability of exporting and on export intensity of MENA manufacturing firms. Government ownership and the relative labour compositions of firms in terms of skilled production workers and in terms of non-production workers tend to exert negative effects on firms' propensity to export. The empirical results from the model with country variables underscore the enhancing effects of national economic development factors on the probability of exporting and on export intensity. Also, they indicate that the propensity to export of these firms decreases with larger domestic market size. The empirical analysis reveals considerable variations in the effects of the determining factors when carrying out the estimation for individual countries.