Countries In MENA Region Research Articles

Institutional Quality and Economic Growth in the Energy Transition of MENA Countries

This paper investigates the energy transition in MENA region countries, emphasizing the pivotal role of institutional quality and its impact on economic growth. It explores the interactions between institutional quality, energy transition initiatives, and economic growth, aiming to understand how strong institutions can facilitate a successful transition. The empirical analysis employs a simultaneous equations model to identify institutional factors that can either support or hinder the energy transition and its influence on economic growth. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and economic stakeholders, underscoring the critical importance of robust institutions in driving the energy transition process and stimulating economic growth in the MENA region from 2000 to 2022.

Investment Climate in the MENA Region: Are the Stabilisation Clauses in Foreign Direct Investment Agreements an Obstacle to Progress?

Abstract Foreign direct investment agreements between Western corporations and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) deserve attention. On one side, the MENA region is a developing region rich in natural resources and therefore a destination interesting to Western investors. On the other, the MENA region is perceived as a volatile and unstable investment environment. Therefore, international investment agreements in the said region often include stabilisation clauses that serve as contractual mechanisms protecting investors from any changes in the laws and acts of nationalisation and expropriation by the host states. As stabilisation clauses have serious adverse effects on the sovereignty of the host states and the development of human rights, this article will take a deeper view of the stabilisation practice and aim to reveal how this contractual mechanism might represent a Catch 22 with respect to the further development of the MENA region countries, especially with respect to human rights and internal governance.

Exploring educational trends and challenges in the MENA region amidst a global crisis: An empirical analysis of the pandemic’s impact on SDG4

The paper presents a cross-country analysis of seven countries in the MENA region and explores the effects of COVID-19 on educational policymaking. The paper uses a quasi-thematic literature review to highlight the emerging themes related to the quality of education during the pandemic. The paper investigates the educational trends in seven MENA region countries and provides descriptive analysis to understand if there were changes from 2016 to 2020. In order to investigate these trends, the study uses the conceptualization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4) “Quality of education.” The analysis is based on the data from the World Bank Development indicators. The paper’s evidence identifies a difference in the level of government expenditure on education within the MENA region. Pre and during COVID-19 provides crucial insights such as all countries increased their government expenditure on education except Egypt and Bahrain. The paper further addresses the contributing factors to the educational gaps in the region, such as digital exclusion, inequality (income and gender), and the government’s budget constraints during the pandemic. This study presents recommendations to bridge these identified gaps in the post-pandemic era.

Blue Economy Determinants and Economic Growth: Implications Upon MENA Region Countries

Blue Economy Determinants and Economic Growth: Implications Upon MENA Region Countries

Integrated effect of saline water irrigation and phosphorus fertilization practices on wheat (Triticum aestivum) growth, productivity, nutrient content and soil proprieties under dryland farming

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is the most common and oldest crop in Morocco and MENA region countries, cultivated both for human and animal nutrition. In Morocco, the irrigated perimeter of Tadla is the major wheat growing area affected by soil and groundwater salinity problematic. Previous studies have shown that phosphorus (P) fertilization can mitigate the negative effects of salinity on different crops. Thus, field experiments from the combination of four levels of irrigation water salinity and three P-fertilization rates were conducted during two successive growing seasons (between 2019 and 2021) at the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), Tadla, Morocco. Our main objective was evaluating the potential of P-fertilization to improve wheat growth, productivity and quality under saline water irrigation practices. The crop simulation model APSIM, was also tested to assess its performance in simulating wheat growth, productivity, phosphorus and nitrogen nutrient dynamics in soil-plant system under saline conditions. Results showed that appropriate P-fertilization under saline conditions contributed to minimize the effect of salinity and improved wheat growth and production. Also, it was found that increasing P-fertilization improved nutrient uptake, and consequently the plant nutrient content. A good agreement between the measured and APSIM model simulated growth and yield state variables, as well as the plant and soil-N content. However, a model uncertainty and relevant limitations in simulating plant- and soil-P content output were identified and discussed. Overall, our finding suggests that appropriate P-application minimizes the adverse effects of high soil salinity and can be adopted as a coping strategy in wheat cultivation under saline water irrigation practices.

Connectedness analysis of oil price shocks, inflation, and exchange rate for the MENA region countries

The relation among energy prices, exchange rates and inflation has been perturbed in the recent past by both the COVID-19 shock, which resulted in a sharp downturn of the economic activity at the beginning of 2020 and the Ukraine crisis, which resulted in sharp increase in energy prices and then inflation at the beginning of 2022. This is the first paper to analyze this relation for the MENA region, conducting an empirical estimation of a VARX model on monthly data from Jan 2010 to Dec 2022 for the main 11 MENA countries. The model includes asymmetric effects, a detailed contagion analysis, conducted with the methodology à la Pesaran - Pick (2007) to identify periods of high volatility, and presents a spillover analysis à la Diebold - Yılmaz (2014), used to measure the connectedness of the three main variables.The novelties of the paper are the construction of a country specific oil portfolio; the asymmetric analysis of oil shocks and contagion; the measurement of the general impulse response spillover, to ascertain the intensity and direction of volatility spillovers. The empirical results show that: (i) the specific oil prices considered for each country induce different effects; (ii) the oil price changes effect depends on the direction and period of the shock; (iii) there are asymmetric contagion effects for exchange rate and inflation only for some countries. Finally, some policy implications are presented based on the spillover connectedness analysis, especially considering the post Covid period.

Mediation Effects of Financial Performance between Assets Utilization and the Market Value of Palestinian Listed Firms

Purpose: This paper examines the impact of asset utilization on the firm's market value and the mediating role of financial performance on a sample of non-financial sectors listed on the Palestinian stock exchange from 2010 to 2018. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a quantitative research approach as it incorporates financial varia-bles, including assets utilization, financial performance (ROA), market value, growth opportunities, firm size, and debt ratio. Findings: The analysis indicates that asset utilization enhances the financial performance of firms and, in turn, the market value of firms. Thus, financial performance mediates the relationship between asset utilization and the firm's market value. Additionally, the growth opportunities and the firm's size positively and directly affect the financial performance. It also indirectly impacts the market value of the firm. In contrast, the debt ratio has a negative impact on financial performance and market value. Generally, these findings are aligned with Signalling and Agency Theories predictions in light of weak corporate governance and high concentration ownership in Palestine and investors' concerns regarding wasting firm assets, unless it enhances the firm's financial performance. Research limitations/implications: This study was conducted using a sample of non-financial Palestinian sectors. Thus, future studies may examine factors included in this study on Palestinian financial industries to generalize findings for the Palestinian market. Additionally, this study used share prices to measure the market value of firms and return on assets as a measure of financial performance. Thus, future studies may consider other criteria, such as price to book value (to gauge whether a stock is valued correctly. Originality/value: Palestine is one of the countries in MENA region that has unclear effects of asset utilization on firm's performance. Accordingly, this study highlights investors' fear regarding mismanagement related to the utilization of a firm's assets, particularly where there is a negative relationship between asset utilization and market value but a positive impact on financial performance. This paper provides a clear empirical evidence on how the asset utilization could be utilized in such market to reduce agency problem and to signal quality management to the outsiders.

Digital currencies as an alternative investment

Purpose: The study intends to examine the movement of digital currency prices over time and compare it to the movement of financial indicators in various stock exchanges to determine whether or not modern digital currencies can represent a global alternative to investing in financial stock exchanges, given their low transaction costs and information confidentiality, which makes them more appealing to some investors. Hypotheses: The research is based on testing two basic hypotheses (1) There is no statistically significant relationship between the movement of digital currency prices and stock index fluctuations. (2) Digital currencies cannot be used as a substitute for stock market investing. Methodology: The statistical study was conducted from January 1, 2010, to July 15, 2022, using a sample of thirteen MENA region countries' indices, as well as three global indices represented by Nasdaq, Dow Jones, and American Standard & Poor's, to represent the fluctuations of these indices. The movements of financial stock exchanges, as well as the ten most active digital currencies in terms of transaction volume at the time of the research, were used as indicators. The STATA statistical program was also employed for correlation analyses. Results: Standard deviations of samples showed that traditional currency markets are more stable than virtual ones. Because of this, it's clear that financial stock exchange traders can't use digital currencies as an alternative investment.

Cancer-related incidence and mortality among children and adolescents in the MENA region countries: Gap between rich and poor countries

Cancer-related incidence and mortality among children and adolescents in the MENA region countries: Gap between rich and poor countries

Capital Structure Determinants: New Evidence from the MENA Region Countries

The objective of this paper is to investigate empirically the determinants of capital structure for a sample of 1101 firms from 11 MENA region countries over the period 2003-2017. Using a comparative approach, we find that firm-specific determinants explain better differences in capital structure choices than other country-specific determinants. Comparisons between countries, sub-regions (GGC and non-GCC countries) and legal origin (Common and Civil law countries) show furthermore that there are differences in terms of significance and importance of capital structure determinants. The most important determinant in the MENA region is profitability. The firm’s capital structure is positively impacted by size, tangibility of assets and private credit and it is negatively impacted by profitability, growth opportunities, GDP growth rate and stock market capitalization as a proportion of GDP. Moreover, we find that total leverage ratio, expressed in market values, give better results than leverage ratio expressed in book values and long-term leverage ratios expressed in book and/or market values. Finally, there is some evidence that the “Jasmine Revolution” has had an impact on firms’ capital structure determinants. Specific-level determinants play a much more prominent role after the revolution than in the past.

Do data mining techniques assist auditors in predicting high-risk accounts in MENA Region countries

Do data mining techniques assist auditors in predicting high-risk accounts in MENA Region countries

Foreign Direct Investment and Financial Development in Selected MENA Region Countries: Panel ARDL Approach

This article empirically examines the linkage between foreign direct investment (FDI) and financial development (FD) in 16 selected countries of the MENA region (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates) over the period 2000–2018. The research investigates the long- and short-run effects of FD on FDI inflows using panel ARDL. This model is based on the dynamic fixed effect (DFE) estimator. The article employs three proxies of FD as developed by the IMF, namely, the overall financial development (OFD), financial markets’ development (FM), and financial institutions’ development proxy (FI). The purpose was to analyze the impact of FD by covering the depth, efficiency, and access to financial markets and their institutions. The findings suggest that even though no significant relationship is established in the short run, the long-run coefficients of the overall FD proxy and FM proxy are positive and statistically significant. The estimates suggest that a 1% increase in the overall FD proxy and FM proxy results in an increase of 172% and 150% of FDI inflows to MENA region countries, respectively. JEL Classification F21, F23, G15, O16

On the Quest for Economic Prosperity: A Higher Education Strategic Perspective for the Mena Region

In a fast-changing technology-driven era, drafting an implementable strategic roadmap to achieve economic prosperity becomes a real challenge. Although the national and international strategic development plans may vary, they usually target the improvement of the quality of living standards through boosting the national GDP per capita and the creation of decent jobs. There is no doubt that human capacity building, through higher education, is vital to the availability of highly qualified workforce supporting the implementation of the aforementioned strategies. In other words, fulfillment of most strategic development plan goals becomes dependent on the drafting and implementation of successful higher education strategies. For MENA region countries, this is particularly crucial due to many specific challenges, some of which are different from those facing developed nations. More details on the MENA region higher education strategic planning challenges as well as the proposed higher education strategic requirements to support national economic prosperity and fulfill the 2030 UN SDGs are given in the paper.

Bank Efficiency, Competition and Concentration in MENA Region Countries: A Granger Causality Approach

In this paper, we aim to explore the causal relationship among the bank efficiency, competition, and concentration in the banking systems of 15 countries in the MENA region (Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, and Mauritania), by modeling econometric panel data over 2008–2018. Banking efficiency is measured by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), while the level of competition is measured by the Boone Indicator, and the level of concentration is measured by the HHI index. Granger causality is used to estimate the relationship among these variables. Results indicate the presence of a significant effect of banking efficiency on banking competition and banking concentration.

Growth-finance nexus in oil abundant GCC countries of MENA region

Growth-finance nexus in oil abundant GCC countries of MENA region

Prediction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Wastewater Treatment and Biogas Production in Tunisia

Tunisia, a country located in North Africa, is one of the MENA region countries suffering from several problems due to climate change, such as water stress, need for electricity, and waste and wastewater management. Wastewater treatment with biogas and electricity production represents a promising energy option for Tunisia, especially with the important quantities of sludge extracted from wastewater and disposed of in landfills. It is important, though, to know the number and sources of emissions that can be generated with biogas in order to ensure a good implementation of it. This study quantifies the emissions from different processes in a wastewater treatment plant with biogas production using adequate estimation methods for this case. Results showed that total annual emissions from wastewater treatment and biogas production on a national level could reach 515.25 kt CO2eq. Methane emissions from anaerobic digestion were the highest source of emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from activated sludge were also significant. The other sources of emissions were nitrous oxides from the whole plant, electricity consumption, cogeneration, and carbon dioxide emissions from anaerobic digestion. This work represents a first attempt to picture the future wastewater treatment scenario that considers emissions when installing biogas production technologies in Tunisia, which can support emission management and, therefore, reduce the resulting environmental impact.

Terrorism and environmental sustainability: Empirical evidence from the MENA region

This study provides a unique perspective in environmental sustainability and research domain by linking climate change and terrorism, which is a new and unexplored factor of environmental sustainability. Through a newly developed predictive model, this study assessed the impact of terrorism on environmental sustainability in the MENA region countries for the time span of 2002–2019 This study also tested the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The empirical results indicate that terrorism is harmful for environmental sustainability as it increases CO 2 emissions, while trade openness and urbanization have a favorable influence on environmental sustainability as they are negatively associated with CO 2 emissions. The results also revealed a positive and statistically significant relationship between energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. Empirically, the results confirmed the validity of the EKC hypothesis in the MENA region. The causality exercise shows a one-way causality from CO 2 emissions and urbanization towards terrorism. Similarly, a unilateral causality is witnessed from energy consumption towards urbanization and from per capita income towards CO 2 emissions. Finally, a two-way causality is detected between trade and terrorism, energy consumption and terrorism and between per capita income and terrorism. These empirical findings provide valuable insights for various stakeholders, i.e., government authorities, policymakers, regulators, practitioners, and researchers. • Terrorism is harmful for environmental sustainability in the MENA region as it increases CO 2 emissions. • The EKC hypothesis is valid in the MENA region. • Energy consumption has adversely impacted environmental sustainability as it is responsible for increased CO 2 emissions. • Trade openness and urbanization have improved environmental sustainability.

Long-term effects of temperature and precipitation on economic growth of selected MENA region countries

Long-term effects of temperature and precipitation on economic growth of selected MENA region countries

Gender Perspectives in Tourism Studies: A Comparative Bibliometric Analysis in the MENA Region

ABSTRACT Recently tourism appears to be an effective economic tool to enhance gender equality and women's empowerment. This study analyzed the gendered-oriented articles concerning the tourism sector in the MENA region. This study focused on the articles that used structured methods such as interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and observations. 203 articles were extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases and analyzed through six bibliometric analysis units: scientific production evolution, documents, authors, sources, countries and institutions, and keywords. The main results of this study can be summarized in two pivotal points: (i) the scientific production of articles concerning gender in the tourism sector in the MENA region is still inadequate and does not correspond to the current international and regional interest in achieving gender equality; (ii) among all the MENA region countries, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Oman were the most countries that have paid attention to gender in the the tourism articles.

The Effect of Applying Banking Regulations on Banking Performance of MENA Region Countries

This paper attempts to investigate the effect of applying banking regulations on banking performance. This has been conducted on 19 MENA region countries (Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Palestine, Oman, Djibouti, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, and Mauritania), on a yearly basis over the period from 2008 to 2018.
 Banking regulations have been measured by each of capital adequacy requirements (capital base to risk-weighted assets), liquidity requirements (liquid assets to total assets), legal reserve requirements (balances with CB to banks' deposit), leverage requirements (total equity to total assets) and provisions policy (total provisions to total capital), while Banking performance has been measured by each of banking efficiency using (data envelopment analysis "DEA" & operational efficiency ratio), banking stability (ABSI & Z-score indexes), credit risk ("non-performing loans" & "provisions for non-performing loans") and profitability (return on assets & return on equity).
 Results indicate that there is a significant effect of applying banking regulations on each of "banking efficiency", "banking stability", "credit risk" and "profitability". This has been conducted using panel data analysis according to static panel models (SPM) according to three models (pooled regression, fixed effects, and random effects).