Free Economic Zones (FEZ) have not become increasingly important as developing countries seek to attract foreing investment, in order to promote trade and growth. A large number of FEZs have been put into operation throughout the Arab world, and more are in the planning process.

The paper discusses markets and regulations in MENA air and maritime transport.

Social Security (SS) programs are integral parts of a generous welfare system instituted in the oil economies during the past quarter century. This paper assesses the future viability of these programs with special reference to the case of Kuwait. A review of the financial structure of the SS...

The objective of this paper is to review the renewed interest in the economics of development and the emergence of new concepts in this area. Such concepts go beyond the Washington Consensus by introducing institutional and regulatory conventions in the study of underdeveloped societies....

Issues relating to self employment in developed and developing countries alike have been attracting the attention of researchers recently. This paper examines several aspects of self and wage employment in Turkey. For this purpose, individual level data from the April and October rounds of the...

The paper reviews the status of MENA agriculture trade and policies in relation with the Uraguay Round Agreement on Agricultural and future WTO negotiations.

This paper studies the impact of the financial and economic liberalization in Tunisia since the mid-1980s on the financial structure and behavior of the corporate sector. We analyze the effect of financing constraints, due to market imperfections as well as credit allocation policies, on the...

The paper investigates asymmetry in the slope of the aggregate supply curve in the face of aggregate demand shocks using annual data for ten countries of the Middle East. The evidence is contrasted to a sample of developing countries and a sample of more developed countries. The empirical...

Monetary integration could have immense implications for both Palestine and Jordan. Two of what are regarded as prerogative functions of an independent state (monetary policy and control over the exchange rate) must be surrendered to a central monetary authority of the union. This will require...

Using earnings functions estimates on an Egyptian establishment-level survey conducted in 1990, standard decomposition techniques of wage differentials show that both males and females have an earning disadvantage in the public enterprise and government sectors after correcting for a range of...