The peace process in the Middle East has heightened the prospects of potential benefits from regional economic cooperation. However, its actual implementation is subject to many constraints, stemming from the economic gaps between the countries, significant differences in social and economic...

The international community injects millions of dollars into the Middle East region every year. The main objective of this funding is to create a desirable impact either in economic or socio-political parameters. The standard economic tools are limited to the economics impact only; therefore a...

This paper estimates the effects of politics and culture on Middle East trade by applying an augmented version of the gravity model. The econometric specification of the model accounts for oil-exporting countries, regional trade blocs and other pertinent exogenous factors. The model endogenously...

Over the last several decades, the economic performance of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has lagged behind many other parts of the world. While a number of factors have been cited as the cause of the region’s malaise, the lack of globalization is increasingly mentioned as a possible...

Arab political regimes are both unusually undemocratic and unusually stable. A series of statistical models are nested to parse competing explanations. The democratic deficit is comprehensible in terms of modernization, democracy waves, and the Arab population share, with the last determinant...

Long-lived undemocratic political regimes are ubiquitous in the Arab world. The likelihood of a transition declines as a country liberalizes and approaches the democratic asymptote. Worldwide democracy waves are positively associated with the likelihood of transition. Adherence to Islam among...

The Middle Eastern region is a major supplier of the world's energy. It is also characterised by conflict, and is the focus of global geo-political interest both because of oil and the volatile nature of disputes in the region, which are perceived to have far reaching global security...

While research using cross country data and analysis is rife with statistical problems, the best papers do provide valuable insight. This commentary illustrates how an excellent paper on democratization provides a useful “stability threshold” that helps to understand current events in the...

Purpose – This paper aims to study country of origin perceptions of Lebanese consumers with respect to potato chips, the correlation involved between country of manufacture and consumer behavior; purchase intent; and product quality. Design/methodology/approach – Four hypotheses in respect...