Economic Performance in the Middle East and North Africa: Institutions, Corruption and Reform

ISBN-13: 9780415438049 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 200 str.

Serdar Sayan

Opis

The economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are in dire need of substantial institutional reform to improve their growth performance so as to create enough jobs for millions of entrants into their respective job markets, and to fight poverty and income inequality. This is necessary not only to reduce the risk of social unrest and domestic/regional conflicts, but also to assure stability of energy supply to the rest of the world and to hamper the violence originating from the region. So, the region's convergence to global standards of governance quality is desirable for increased prosperity and stability both in the region and outside. This volume contributes to the recently burgeoning political economy literature on institutions by putting together well-written chapters that empirically study the relationship between economic performance and institutional characteristics in MENA economies to point out some of the areas where institutional reform is particularly needed and possible tools to use for such reform. Perhaps one common lesson that can be derived from all chapters in the volume is that the both the region itself and the global economy will benefit from a MENA region that is better integrated to the rest.

This book investigates the performance of the economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), focusing in particular on the role of corruption and the underlying institutional structure in determining economic growth and the prospects for development.

Serdar Seyan explores the relationship between institutional factors and growth and development, comparing the experiences of the MENA countries with the rest of the world. He then analyzes, on the basis of detailed empirical data, the impact of these forces in the MENA countries, considering important factors such as democratic accountability, judicial system efficiency, military involvement in politics and corruption. The volume considers their implications for important areas of economic performance including fiscal and monetary structures, private investment, foreign direct investment and trade; arguing that the low levels of private and foreign direct investment can, to a significant extent, be attributed to the character of institutional governance structures in the region. It demonstrates how the maintenance of relatively high levels of trade barriers has been fuelled by corruption and considers the prospects and viable pathways for institutional reform.

Spis treści

1. Institutions and Economic Performance in the MENA Region  2. Corruption in MENA Countries: An Empirical Investigation  3. Does Corruption Hurt Economic Development?: Evidence from Middle Eastern-North African and Latin American Countries  4. Corruption, Corruption Perception and Economic Growth  5. Why Does It Take So Long to Collect on a Bad Check through the Courts? A Case of Institutional Path Dependence with Special Reference to the MENA Region  6. Do Political and Governance Institutions Matter for Private Investment Decisions?: The Case of the Middle East and North Africa  7. Unexplained Differences in the FDI Receipts of MENA 8. Governance and Fiscal Structure in the MENA Region 9. The Effects of Corruption on Credibility of Monetary Policy  10. Conclusions. 

O autorze

Serdar Sayan is Professor of Economics and Director of Graduate School for Social Sciences at TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Turkey. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal International Economics and Foreign Trade Policies. He is a widely published computational economist whose contributions have concentrated on international economics and international trade, development economics and demography.