Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Diana Bashur

Author

Diana Bashur
Secretary, Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) and PhD candidate, University of Vienna

After working for the UN and other international agencies in development and political analysis in New York, Vienna and Damascus, Diana returned to university to research a different approach to peacebuilding. Currently a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, she is looking into basic income as a tool for peacebuilding with a focus on the Middle East and a particular interest in its potential for social cohesion. She is also Secretary of the Basic Income Earth Network (https://basicincome.org/executive-committee/), an international charity aimed at promoting an informed discussion about Basic Income.

Content by this Author

What would a basic income mean for the Arab world?

The idea of a regular, unconditional and individual cash payment distributed to all citizens is gaining ground. This column argues that such a basic income would ensure that everyone is able to meet their basic needs unconditionally, thereby improving people’s resilience and solidifying communities. Ultimately, a basic income could help to rebuild the social contract in the Arab world where governments would uphold human dignity by awarding citizens economic security as a right.

Most read

The green transition in MENA economies: challenges and policy pathways

The economies of the Middle East and North Africa are at a critical turning point. Global decarbonisation pressures, energy market volatility and technological transformation are increasingly challenging hydrocarbon-based growth models. This column argues that the green transition is not only an environmental necessity but also a strategic economic imperative.

Beyond job creation: how can Egypt’s gender gap in work be closed?

More than 2 million jobs are needed each year to absorb new entrants into Egypt’s labour market and raise the country’s employment rate. The job challenge is even more acute for women, whose labour force participation remains low despite recent gains in education. This column reports on the second Development Dialogue, an ERF–World Bank Group joint initiative, which brought together students, scholars, policy-makers and private sector leaders at the American University in Cairo to consider how the country’s gender gap in work can be closed.

The political economy of algorithms in the Middle East

The Middle East is entering a new political-economic era – one in which algorithms, data and artificial intelligence may become as strategically important as oil once was. Across the region, governments are investing heavily in digital infrastructure, smart governance and AI-driven economic transformation. This column outlines how AI and algorithmic governance are reshaping power, inequality and state capacity in the region.

Digitalisation, global value chains and regional integration in MENA & SSA

Participation in global value chains is vital for countries pursuing structural transformation and inclusive economic development. This column summarises new evidence on how much production processes have been globalised in Africa and the Middle East relative to other regions; whether this process has taken place with partners within or outside the region; and whether it has taken place more in manufacturing or services.

How trade policy can reduce MENA’s cereal import vulnerability

Heavy dependence on imported cereals, combined with climate change, water scarcity and geopolitical uncertainty, continues to threaten food resilience across MENA. This column explains how an inclusive trade policy can play a key role in making the region’s food security less vulnerable to shocks.




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