Economic Research Forum (ERF)

The historical roots of state weakness and social inequities in Lebanon

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and through the interwar period, Lebanon and much of modern Syria were administered ...

The environmental impact of foreign direct investment in MENA

Are countries in the Middle East and North Africa ‘pollution havens’ when it comes to foreign direct investment (FDI) – ...

Making macroeconomic policy more job-friendly: the case of Egypt

The Egyptian economy suffers from both several structural imbalances and recent cyclical developments, which have exacerbated the negative impact of ...

Climate change: the impact on child malnutrition in the Nile basin

There are complex interactions between climate change, food security and children’s nutritional status. This column summarises new research on these ...

The World Bank should become the ‘IMF of climate’

Climate stability, like global macrofinancial stability, is a public good. Yet, while the International Monetary Fund has an operational mandate ...

MENA’s unexpectedly low inflation

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, inflation rates in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa ...

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 ...

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, ...

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.




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