Reham Rizk

Associate Professor, University of London

Reham Rizk is the Head of the Modelling Unit at the Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and an Associate Professor of Economics in University of London and in the Master’s Program in Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. She is also an Invited Researcher at J-PAL Middle East and North Africa at AUC, and the co-Founder and director of the Egypt Impact Lab, a collaboration between MPED and J-PAL that aims to strengthen the effectiveness of Egypt’s poverty reduction policies by rigorously evaluating promising and innovative government programs and a Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum. Her current focus includes conducting an ongoing randomized evaluation of Unpacking Employment Support: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment with J-PAL MENA and constructing Egypt’s Multidimensional Poverty Index with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. Previously, she was an Associate Professor of Economics at the Universities of Canada in Egypt and the British University in Egypt. She was also a Research Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota and Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan. She served as Senior Economist at the Tahya-Misr Fund. She received my PhD and MA in Economics from Helwan University. Her work focuses on establishing sustainable partnerships between universities, government, and development practitioners to advance policy-driven research and foster effective planning for development initiatives promoting employment, microenterprise development, female empowerment, family development, education and health.

Drivers of educational inequality in Jordan during the pandemic

Education
Health care
February 21, 2023

Jordan had one of the most stringent lockdowns in response to Covid-19, with schools closed for long periods. As this column explains, the variation in children’s access to online learning has led to greater inequality in educational outcomes.

Inequalities in Jordan before and after the pandemic

Is Covid-19 increasing inequalities in Jordan? This column outlines the main findings of a new report on the impact of the pandemic on inequality in expenditure, incomes and educational opportunities and outcomes.

Inequality of income and education in Jordan

The global pandemic seems likely to result in greater inequality across multiple dimensions, including income, education, gender and geography. This column reports pre-crisis evidence from Jordan on the extent of income inequality, inequality in educational outcomes and inequality in educational opportunities. Proposed policy responses include investing in education; awareness campaigns; ensuring equal access to the internet and social security; subsidising school supplies conditional on parental income and wealth; and imposing stricter measures to combat child labour.

Economies of agglomeration and firm productivity in Egypt

There is a strong body of international evidence that firms are more productive when they cluster near one another geographically. This column reports new findings on the substantial productivity benefits of such agglomeration in Egypt. The results have important implications for policy, including the value of establishing specialised industrial zones for promising business clusters with high growth potential.

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.

Untapped talent, unrealised growth: jobs and women in the MENAAP region

Only around one in five women of working age participate in the labour markets of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan. As this column explains, the region can no longer afford to leave half its human capital underused. Expanding women’s labour force participation is central to growth and resilience in the face of looming demographic change.

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.

Labour demand and informal employment in Egypt’s manufacturing sector

Egypt’s manufacturing sector faces a dual challenge of weak job creation and persistent informality. Drawing on survey evidence on business behaviour and labour market dynamics, this column explains why job creation is limited and informal work remains such an integral part of how firms organise production. The generation of more formal jobs requires a comprehensive policy approach, one that goes beyond enforcement of labour regulations to reshape the economic environment in which firms and workers make decisions.

The Forum ERF

ERF