Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Economic interdependence and conflict management in MENA

Do preferential trade agreements and regional integration help to promote peace between neighbouring countries? This column looks at some of ...

Reality check: forecasting MENA growth in times of uncertainty

Over the past decade, growth forecasts for the countries of the Middle East and North Africa have often been overly ...

Air pollution and internal migration in Iran

The quality of the local environment can have a significant impact on residents’ decisions about whether to migrate to another ...

Unlocking sustainable private sector growth in MENA

Economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa has been weak since the global financial crisis of 2007-09 and ...

Preventing developing economy debt disasters

Skyrocketing food and energy prices, together with widening sovereign bond spreads, have placed balance sheets in emerging market and developing ...

Ukraine invasion: from oil sanctions to accelerating the energy transition

The sanctions placed on Russian oil may give new impetus to the energy transition by encouraging developed economies to find ...

Labour market transitions over the life cycle in Egypt across two decades

To assess the impact of Covid-19 on Egypt’s labour markets, it is useful to understand how they functioned prior to ...

What would a basic income mean for the Arab world?

The idea of a regular, unconditional and individual cash payment distributed to all citizens is gaining ground. This column argues ...

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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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