We examine and analyze the post-privatization corporate governance of a sample of 52 newly privatized Egyptian firms over a period of 10 years, from 1995 to 2005. We look at the ownership structure that results from privatization and its evolution; the determinants of private ownership...

In this paper, we examine the influence of bank regulations, concentration, financial and institutional development on commercial bank margin and profitability across a broad menu of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. We cover the 1989-2005 period and control for a wide array of...

The phenomenon of under pricing initial public offerings is documented for 53 Egyptian share issue privatizations (SIPs) between 1994 and 1998. In the long run, I find mixed results. SIPs sustain their positive performance and provide investors with abnormal returns over a one-year period,...

This paper examines cause-specific labor force non-participation among women living in three impoverished communities on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. It uses an expanded labor force utilization framework, separating the socially discouraged from other labor nonparticipants. This study is...

This paper examines Africa’s and Middle East’s growth performance for the period 1990- 2005. It employs a Bayesian Model Averaging method that constructs estimates as a weighted average of Spatial Autoregressive estimates for every possible combination of included variables. One of the...

In this paper we explore the dynamics of labor market adjustment in Morocco with a particular emphasis on the role of trade liberalization. We utilize the methodology of Davis and Haltiwanger (1990) which enables us to distinguish between job creation, job destruction, overall levels of...

This paper theoretically investigates the optimal monetary policy regime for post-war Iraq. We analyze the macroeconomic dynamics (inflation, output and exchange rate) and the credibility and reputation of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) under alternative monetary policy regimes. We construct a...

This paper studies the evolution of total and regional poverty in Tunisia using the Growth Incidence Curve (GIC) approach based on individual consumption and education level from the household consumption surveys and other official publications during the period 1990-1995. Three main results are...

This paper presents a comparative study of private returns to schooling in Egypt, Iran, and Turkey using similar survey data and a uniform methodology. We employ three surveys for each country that span nearly two decades, ranging from 1987 to 2006. Our aim is to learn from survey data about the...

The goal of this paper is to understand the effect of macroeconomic conditions on performance in Turkish banking. Turkey has experienced a series of financial distresses in the past three decades. This has served as a “negative externality” on banking performance despite important...