Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Hala Abou-Ali

Editorial board

Hala Abou-Ali
Professor of Economics and Chair of the Economics Department, Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FEPS), Cairo University

Hala ABOU-ALI (Dr.) is a Professor of Economics and Chair of the Economics department at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FEPS), Cairo University and a Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum specialized in environmental and development economics with focus on the economic value and modelling of environmental resources in developing countries. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Gothenburg University, Sweden. Abou-Ali served as the Vice President of the Institute of National Planning, the Branch Campus President of the University of London hosted by the European Universities in Egypt (EUE) and as the Programme Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) at EUE. Abou-Ali also worked as the director of the French Section at FEPS, Cairo Universit. She was appointed as the Secretary General of the National Council of Childhood and Motherhood in 2015. Abou-Ali is a former Member of the Egyptian Parliament. Abou-Ali joined the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in 2008 on a part time basis to take the lead on the work carried out on environmental economics in the MENA region. Starting January 2014, she led the Open Access Micro Data Initiative (OAMDI). She has published several articles in internationally refereed journals, book chapters and edited internationally published books. She has accumulated experience in the economic value and modelling of environmental resources in developing countries, with a particular focus on water and air pollution and agricultural land degradation. She has also worked on issues such as climate change, climate finance, impact evaluation of investments, poverty assessment, education, health, and the Sustainable Development Goals for UNDP, UNFPA, WHO, and the World Bank.

Content by this Author

Preparing youth for the workforce of the future

As economies undergo rapid digital and green transformations, young people face a growing mismatch between their skills and what the modern labour market needs. This column argues that enabling youth to compete in the workforce of the future requires systemic reforms in education, skills formation and labour market institutions, especially in developing economies.

The green energy transition: employment pathways for MENA

The potential employment impacts of green and renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa are multifaceted and promising. As this column explains, embracing renewable energy technologies presents an opportunity for the region to diversify its economy, mitigate the possible negative impacts of digitalisation on existing jobs, reduce its carbon footprint and create significant levels of employment across a variety of sectors. Green energy is not just an environmental imperative but an economic necessity.

Food security and child malnutrition in Africa

There is a complex relationship between climate change, food security and children’s nutritional status. This column outlines the research evidence, focusing in particular on the experience of African countries and poorer communities within them.

Climate change: the impact on child malnutrition in the Nile basin

There are complex interactions between climate change, food security and children’s nutritional status. This column summarises new research on these relationships in the context of Egypt, Ethiopia and Uganda, including the role of socio-economic factors in shaping child health, as well as possible routes and biological aspects that could explain their impacts.

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Empowering Egypt’s young people for the future of work

Egypt’s most urgent priority is creating more and better jobs for its growing youth population. This column reports on the first Development Dialogue, an ERF–World Bank joint initiative, which brought together students, scholars, policy-makers and private sector leaders at Cairo University to confront the country’s labour market challenge. The conversation explored why youth inclusion matters, what the data show and how dialogue and the forthcoming Country Economic Memorandum can inform practical pathways to accelerate job creation.

Preparing youth for the workforce of the future

As economies undergo rapid digital and green transformations, young people face a growing mismatch between their skills and what the modern labour market needs. This column argues that enabling youth to compete in the workforce of the future requires systemic reforms in education, skills formation and labour market institutions, especially in developing economies.

Connectivity and conflict: understanding the risks of inequality in the Middle East

While high inequality does not always lead to conflict, new research reported in this column shows that widespread internet access acts as a catalyst, transforming economic grievances into political instability. For policy-makers in the Middle East and North Africa, this means that as digital connectivity expands, the security costs of ignoring economic disparities rise dramatically. The combination of idle youth, high inequality and high-speed internet is a volatile mix.

The political economy of stalled structural reforms in MENA

There is a persistent pattern to the structural reforms that are required to underpin economic progress in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa: ambitious strategies are announced and partially implemented, but ultimately they are diluted or reversed. This column argues that the repeated stalling of reform is not primarily a failure of economic design. Rather, it reflects deep-seated political economy constraints rooted in rent dependence, elite bargaining and weak institutional credibility. Without addressing these underlying dynamics, reform efforts are likely to remain symbolic rather than transformative.

Closing the gender gap in political participation in MENA

Women across the Middle East and North Africa participate less than men in politics – not only in political parties and elections, but also in petitions, boycotts, protests and strikes. This column reports evidence from ten countries showing that differences in education, employment and political attitudes explain part of this disparity, yet a significant gender gap remains.




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