Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Mohammad Pournik

Author

Mohammad Pournik
Consultant

Mohammad Pournik retired from UNDP in February 2013. He served as Poverty Practice Leader at the UNDP regional centre for Arab States in Cairo from August 2009, where he provided substantive guidance to UNDP Country Offices in the Arab region on how best to respond to challenges of socio-economic development. For most of his professional life in the United Nations system, Mohammad Pournik worked on issues pertaining to political economy of sustainable development and poverty reduction. He joined UNDP Iran in 1984 and has since worked in Laos, New York, Nepal, Sudan and Yemen. In Nepal he was the regional coordinator for the South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme, a multi-country intervention to link social mobilization at the local level with a supportive macro policy framework for poverty reduction and active engagement of hitherto excluded groups into mainline economic activities. In Sudan he served as Senior Economist and Poverty Reduction Advisor, while in Yemen he was the Principal Economic and Governance Advisor focussing on the links between governance systems and developmental outcomes. Prior to joining the UN he served briefly with the Iranian Plan and Budget Organization after several years of private sector experience. Mohammad Pournik received his academic training as an economist at the American University in Washington, D.C., the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of London and the University of Sussex, respectively at doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s levels.

Content by this Author

Sudan and the pandemic: reforms for a vulnerable economy

Sudan’s economy was in a fragile state even before Covid-19 and the lockdown measures implemented to control the virus. This column outlines the bold yet practical reforms that are needed to help the country move to a virtuous cycle of rising productivity and incomes – and hence sustained reduction in poverty.

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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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