Titled “Morocco 2040 – Emerging by Investing in Intangible Capital”, the Morocco Country Economic Memorandum 2017 is a comprehensive report aimed at assessing Morocco’s recent economic performance and its prospects for growth over the next two decades. The report outlines the economic governance reforms that could facilitate the achievement of an ambitious, albeit realistic, scenario of faster sustainable economic growth…
Economy
Socio-economic Inequality and the Failure of Development Strategies for the Middle East
The main drivers of the Arab Uprisings were economic grievances and a perceived growth in inequalities. Poor economic growth and lack of inclusive policies are the underlying causes of insecurity in the region The main concerns of people in the MENA are economic security and corruption. People think that the best way in which the EU can help their countries…
Tunisia’s Corruption Contagion: A Transition at Risk
Corruption is a destabilizing force in Tunisia, infecting all levels of its economy, security, and political system. Once tightly controlled under former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, corruption has now become endemic, with everyday citizens engaging in and benefitting from corrupt practices. Numerous legal measures and civil society initiatives have been working to fight corruption, but it is perceived to…
Democracy Derailed?
“Over the course of just one week, the Tunisian government has made three concerning moves that, taken together, signal a major backsliding in its democratic development. The first occurred on September 11 when Tunisia’s Parliament approved a government reshuffle that enabled the replacement of 13 of 28 cabinet ministers. It was an alarming move, as some of the new ministers…
What Drives Migration from the Middle East? Why People Want to Leave Arab States
Drivers of migration include conflicts and instability, but are mostly economic. Over half of migrants and displaced persons originating from MENA stay within the region. Most likely to emigrate are young educated men seeking temporary stays to find work. EU public debate focuses on potential security threats from population inflows, but ignore economic benefits both to host countries and to…
Building Decent Societies? Economic Situation and Political Cohesion after the Arab Uprisings
The focus of this paper is the main drivers of the 2010-11 Arab Uprisings across the Arab and draws on data from the ArabTrans public opinion survey, as well as the Arab Barometer, the Gallup World Poll and World Development Indicators. It asks to what extent people think that things are getting better, whether post-2011 regimes are addressing the concerns…
A Broken Social Contract, Not High Inequality, Led to the Arab Spring
During the 2000s, expenditure inequality in Arab countries was low or moderate and, in many cases, declining. Different measures of wealth inequality were also lower than elsewhere. Yet, there were revolutions in four countries and protests in several others. We explain this so‐called “inequality puzzle” by first noting that, despite favorable income inequality measures, subjective well‐being measures in Arab countries…
Handbook of Empirical Research on Islam and Economic Life
Islamic economics and finance (IEF) has recently enjoyed a spike in interest and a rise in status from theology-tinged discussion fodder for Muslim intellectuals to a fully fledged academic discipline knocking on the doors of university social science departments. The Handbook of Empirical Research on Islam and Economic Life provides a solid background and overview of current empirical research, evaluating…
Community-Driven Development and Social Capital: Evidence from Morocco
Community-driven development rests on the principle of development aid through community participation, which is expected to promote pro-social behavior. This paper studies the impact of such a program in Morocco on social capital as measured by economic field experiments. We played a public goods game to measure how much people care about others in the community, an investment game to…