Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Public employment in Arab countries: A Reassessment

In Arab countries, there are concerns that the public sector is too large. This column shows that the extent to ...

How can the digital economy benefit everyone in the Arab world—and prevent the region from falling farther behind?

Digitalization is one of the main forces shaping the modern global economy—and an area in which the Arab world has ...

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, ...

How the crisis in Ukraine affects Egypt’s vulnerable families and children

The crisis in Ukraine is hitting the global economy at a time when the world is struggling to recover from ...

Demographic pressures on the Egyptian labour market

Although unemployment rates have been falling in Egypt in recent years, this trend is likely to reverse in the next ...

Measuring poverty in Lebanon in the time of economic collapse

What has been the impact of Lebanon’s long-running economic crisis on the daily lives of citizens? This column documents a ...

What is the likely impact of the earthquakes on economic growth in Türkiye?

The earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria in February 2023 have caused widespread destruction and loss of life. As explained in ...

Social protection in Jordan: towards collaborative implementation

Jordan has an ambitious national strategy for social protection, adopted in 2019. But as this column explains, implementing it has ...

Most read

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.

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.




Linkedin