Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Tilman Brück

Author

Tilman Brück
Economist

Professor Tilman Brück is an internationally leading scholar of the economics of conflict and reconstruction, focusing especially on how people cope with violence and displacement. He is Founder and Director of ISDC - International Security and Development Center in Berlin, Germany - the world’s only research institute exclusively focused on studying conflict and development. He vividly remembers his first trip to Syria in May 2007 when, amid a general euphoria for reform, he had a strong sense of something going wrong. But little did he realise how terribly wrong things would go.

Content by this Author

Lebanon must learn from the Syrian disaster

Overlapping crises are threatening the political, economic and social stability of Lebanon. As this column explains, the disaster in Syria provides insights into how grievances can accumulate to a point at which single events can trigger conflict.

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Global value chains and sustainable development

What is the role of exchange rate undervaluation in promoting participation in global value chains by firms in developing countries? What is the impact of the stringency of national environmental regulations on firms’ GVC participation? And how do firms’ political connections affect their participation in GVCs? These questions will be explored for the MENA region at a special session of the ERF annual conference, which takes place in Cairo in April 2025.

Adoption of decentralised solar energy: lessons from Palestinian households

The experience of Palestinian households offers a compelling case study of behavioural adaptation to energy poverty via solar water heater adoption. This column highlights the key barriers to solar energy adoption in terms of both the socio-economic status and dwellings of potential users. Policy-makers need to address these barriers to ensure a just and equitable transition, particularly for households in conflict-affected areas across the MENA region.

Migration, human capital and labour markets in MENA

Migration is a longstanding and integral part of the MENA region’s economic and social fabric, with profound implications for labour markets and human capital development. To harness the potential of migration for promoting economic and social development, policy-makers must aim to deliver mutual benefits for origin countries, host countries and migrants. Such a triple-win strategy requires better data, investment in return migration, skill partnerships, reduced remittance costs and sustained support for host countries.




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