Economic Research Forum (ERF)

November

How the Middle East can prepare for the coming economic storm

How can policy-makers prepare for the challenging years ahead and protect their populations? This column, originally published in The National, concludes that a lot can be achieved if action is taken quickly.

Extending social protection to Tunisia’s informal workers

With one of the most comprehensive social security and assistance systems in MENA, Tunisia has delivered on the promise of its 2014 constitution for some of its citizens – yet a substantial portion of the workforce has been left behind. This column argues that the country has an opportunity to leverage existing regulations and introduce new policy strategies to increase social protection coverage among informal workers and create a more inclusive economy for Tunisian workers.

Governance is the key development challenge for Arab countries

A new Development Challenges Index measures shortfalls in the achievements of developing countries in three areas: quality-adjusted human development, environmental sustainability and good governance. This column outlines what it reveals about Arab countries – and the implications for policy-making in the region.

The World Development Challenges Report: A new measurement framework

The global Development Challenges Index, which has just been launched, measures shortfalls in the achievements of developing countries in three key and interdependent areas: quality-adjusted human development, environmental sustainability and good governance. This column introduces the new framework and its main findings.

How to slow climate change while fighting poverty

Falling aid budgets and ballooning debt in the developing world are impediments to climate action. As this Foreign Policy column explains, green aid projects can bring poorer countries on board.

Jobs and growth in North Africa in the Covid-19 era: Sudan, 2018-21

Sudan’s labour market faced a number of challenges even prior to the pandemic. Economic difficulties, including rampant inflation, and political instability contributed to continuing under-utilisation of the country’s labour force during Covid-19; and employment continues to be primarily self-employment in agriculture. Political stability is a pre-requisite for addressing Sudan’s economic and labour market challenges.

How developing countries can reach net zero

To phase out fossil fuels, the global shift to renewables must be just. As this Project Syndicate column argues, to reach carbon neutrality, the international community must provide developing countries with a positive vision and ensure that the shift to renewable energy creates shared prosperity.

The COP of no return

The human cost of climate change is making headlines almost daily. This Project Syndicate article asks how, in a world of rising geopolitical tensions and daunting economic challenges, we can seize the opportunity the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference offers to inspire an approach to mitigation and adaptation that is based on trust, justice and equity.

Most read

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.

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.

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.

The risks of a two-speed AI economy in MENA

Much of the debate about artificial intelligence in the Middle East and North Africa focuses on how many jobs it will replace. As this column explains, the more important challenge is that the new technology is likely to create a two-speed labour market, where countries with the capacity to invest in digital infrastructure and skills move rapidly ahead while others struggle to keep pace. Unless governments combine credible national reforms with targeted regional cooperation, AI could widen, not reduce, the economic divides across MENA.

From mega-investment to mega-productivity: closing MENA’s conversion gap

Across the Middle East and North Africa, governments are investing heavily in infrastructure, technology, diversification and new industries. Yet capital accumulation alone does not guarantee productivity growth. As this column argues, the region’s deeper challenge is its ‘investment-to-productivity conversion gap’: ensuring that large-scale investment translates consistently into stronger firms, technological diffusion, skills and better jobs. A different metric of success is required: not how much capital is deployed, but how much productive capability that capital leaves behind.




Linkedin