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The Middle East and North African (MENA) economies experienced substantial economic fluctuations due to variations in carbon emissions and energy use. For this purpose, the present study examines the factors influencing carbon emissions in MENA economies, particularly economic growth and energy use. To this end, this study disaggregates economic growth into three sectors (agriculture, industry, and services) and energy use into renewable and non-renewable, and examines their environmental impacts by including the roles of urbanization and trade openness in the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. This study uses panel data from 16 MENA countries over the period 1990-2018 to estimate the short-run and long-run coefficients and the Granger causality between the variables. The empirical results using the Mean Augmented Group (AMG) and the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCE-MG) revealed that (i) the signs of GDP per capita and its squared scores validate the EKC hypothesis only at the aggregate level; (ii) the coefficients of sectoral GDP show that the industry and services sectors have the highest contributions to carbon emissions in the MENA region; (iii) non-renewable energy increases emissions, whereas renewable energy lessens them. The outcomes of the Granger causality confirm (i) a bidirectional relationship between emissions and per capita GDP as well as sectoral GDP, between CO 2 emissions and renewable energy, and between per capita GDP and renewable and non-renewable energy however; (ii) a unidirectional causal impact running from non-renewable energy to CO 2 emissions is found in the short term. The study calls for effective policies to focus on curbing emissions in secondary and tertiary economic sectors by growing the part of renewable energy in the total energy mix., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This paper aims to analyze the link between environmental degradation and institutional quality and the price of oil moderated by economic complexity and the underground economy. We use quantile regressions with annual panel data for 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa during 1995-2021. The findings indicate that institutional quality, economic complexity, and output positively and heterogeneously impact environmental degradation. However, the square of production has a negative impact, confirming an inverted U relationship between production and environmental degradation. Likewise, we find that the price of oil and the underground economy have a negative and heterogeneous impact on environmental degradation. Based on our results, a potential recommendation for policymakers is that the institutional framework of Middle Eastern and North African countries should be accompanied by a more significant concern for the environment instead of prioritizing extractive growth that is detrimental to the environment's environmental sustainability. Likewise, economic diversification will mitigate environmental degradation and improve formal employment. Our findings are relevant to policymakers and researchers interested in promoting ecological sustainability., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The environmental challenges are currently placed at the forefront in order to achieve sustainable development. Although existing studies have largely examined the underlying factors of the environmental sustainability, the institutional quality and the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) still insufficiently investigated. The aim of this paper is to clarify the role played by institutional quality and ICTs to mitigate environmental degradation at different scales of the ecological gap. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine whether the quality of institutions and ICTs consolidate the contribution of renewable energy to reduce the ecological gap and thereby, promote environmental sustainability. The results of panel quantile regression applied to fourteen selected Middle East (ME) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries from 1984 to 2017 showed that the rule of law, control of corruption, Internet use, and mobile use exert no beneficial effects on environmental sustainability. The ICTs and the institutional development through the presence of an appropriate regulatory framework and the control of corruption have rather advantageous moderating effects on the environmental quality. Indeed, our findings revealed that the effects of renewable energy consumption on the environmental sustainability are positively moderated by the control of corruption, Internet use, and mobile use for countries with medium and high ecological gaps. The beneficial ecological effects of renewable energy are also moderated by the presence of a solid regulatory framework, but only for countries with high ecological gaps. In addition, our results showed that financial development promotes environmental sustainability in countries with low ecological gaps. Urbanization has perverse effects on the environment across all quantiles. The results found lead to important practical implications for preserving the environment as it suggests designing ICTs and improving the quality of institutions oriented to renewable energy sector in order to reduce the ecological gap. In addition, the findings from this paper can serve decision-makers in terms of environmental sustainability given the globalizing and conditional approach followed., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This paper studies whether foreign direct investment (FDI)-CO 2 emissions relationship may change depending on the data-driven estimated threshold levels for the country characteristics (CC) including human capital and governance in a sample of 13 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) economies during the 1996-2019 period. Our results strongly suggest that endogenously estimated CC thresholds matter for the impact of FDI on CO 2 emissions. The pollution haven hypothesis, which maintains that FDI is associated with higher levels of pollution, appears to be valid for economies with weak CC. In addition to this, the pollution halo argument suggesting FDI lowers the emissions appears to be hold in countries with strong CC. The results in this study may indicate that policies aiming to improve human capital and governance may be expected not only to increase the economic benefits of FDI in terms of growth but also mitigate the negative environmental impacts of FDI in the MENA region., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Governance is one of the basic determinants of pollution levels through property rights, the effective judicial system, etc. it is accepted as that bad governance because of inefficient regulatory structures, government bureaucracy, weak law enforcement, etc. support environmental pollution. In this context, in some countries of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, it will be studied the impacts of governance on environmental pollution over the period of 1996-2018 by the panel quantile and Granger causality methods. The countries were selected by considering two different measurements, EPI (2020) index and governance index (2020). According to EPI (2020), these countries have low scores in terms of environmental quality, and in the governance index (2020), they have bad governance scores. In this study, in which panel quantile regression model is used, control variables are included in the model to prevent omitted-variable bias. The results of the analysis determined that the effect of governance on carbon emissions is positive, as well as that the effects of independent variables on CO 2 emission are heterogeneous across quantities. Panel quantile regression revealed the evidence of the relation among the environmental pollution, two parameters of governance, FDI, financial development, human development index, and trade openness used as the explanatory variable and determined that government has the greatest positive effect on CO 2 emission. On the other hand, by using traditional Granger causality and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality methods, it was found the evidence of causality among governance and environmental pollution in the context of two parameters of governance. Accordingly, it was determined the evidence of unidirectional causality relation from political governance to environmental pollution and besides from economic governance to environmental pollution. And it was determined the evidence of unidirectional causality from FDI and the other explanatory variables to environmental pollution., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The broad purpose of this study is to empirically explore the impact of globalization and financial development on environmental pollution by carbon (CO 2 ) emissions in the six Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries using balanced panel data from 1971 to 2015. We also aimed to test the legitimacy of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for this region. The fixed-effects approach preferred by the Hausman specification test is used to estimate the empirical model, and the feasible generalized least squares (F.G.L.S.) estimator is employed to cope with any issue of heteroscedasticity and serial correlation. This study found that globalization and financial development have adverse and significant effects on environmental degradation and affirm the legitimacy of the EKC hypothesis for these countries. The finding of this study suggests that the governments of MENA countries should design and implement appropriate policies for strengthening the renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, bio-fuel, and thermal to decrease CO 2 emissions and boost sustainable economic development. The policymakers should focus on the efficiency of institutions and enhancement of energy-saving projects in this region.

Earth is in the Anthropocene era and humankind deteriorates the global environment; thus, there is a dire need for sustainable policies at all levels. This study investigates the causal and long-run association between financial development, research and development expenditures, and carbon dioxide emission including energy intensity and income level for selected West Asia and Middle East (WAME) economies along the belt and road. The long-run panel estimation findings reveal that the research and development expenditures (R&D) are negatively associated with environmental degradation, as they significantly mitigate carbon emissions. In contrast, financial development contributes to environmental degradation. The findings validated the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon for the WAME economies considering R&D and financial development. Further, energy intensity exacerbates environmental quality. Additionally, the findings from Dumitrescu-Hurlin (DH) causal approach reveal bidirectional causal associations between financial development and carbon emissions and between R&D and emissions. The findings have implications for policy and practice to attain environmental sustainability in the selected WAME countries., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Rapid evolution in the population age structure of the Middle East countries has major economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Therefore, to fill the gap in the previous literatures, in this study, the effect of age structure on environmental degradation was investigated in the Middle East region. To achieve this goal, a panel data of 10 Middle East countries were examined over the period of 1990 to 2014. Moreover, the carbon dioxide emission per capita was used as an environmental pollution index in this study. According to the stationary property of the variables, small sample size data, and the assumptions of the model, the panel autoregressive distributed lag method of mean group, pooled mean group, and dynamic fixed effect estimators were investigated in this study. The empirical results implied that the pooled mean group model emerged as the most efficient among the three estimators. Also, results revealed that the age structure have a significant relationship with environmental pollution. Children and working age population have a positive elasticity, whereas elderly people have negative elasticity. Furthermore, the results showed that the working age population has the greatest explanatory power on the carbon emissions. Also, the relationship between per capita energy consumption and gross domestic product per capita with air pollution was positive. Overall, the empirical results showed that any attempt to decrease carbon dioxide emissions in the Middle East region should consider the population age structure., (© 2020. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study examines the association between air pollution and economic growth based on the idea of environment Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis which suggests an inverted U-shaped link between air pollution and economic growth in six different regions including Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2000 to 2018. This regional classification is done to investigate the regional differences of the EKC relationship for carbon emissions. Models based on panel data econometric models are employed to obtain empirical results. Random effect and fixed effect models are used in the present study. A multivariate framework is used in which carbon dioxide emission, per capita gross domestic product, trade openness, foreign direct investment, primary school enrollment, financial development indicator, and institutional quality that is measured by six indicators are included. The result is that the EKC hypothesis is supported in all the abovementioned regions except in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Thus, the hypothesis that different regions have dissimilar EKC relationships is supported through the results of this research study.

This article investigates the contribution of Islamic banks to enhancing access to financial services by looking at their unique method of offering Shariacompliant goods and services. Islamic banking principles, the study claims, encourage profit-and-loss sharing and forbid riba (interest), which increases access to financial services, particularly for devout Muslims. In particular, this paper looks at how Islamic banks affect financial inclusion in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. This is accomplished by assessing academic literature, industry reports, and statistical data. It looks at potential substitutes, including mobile banking and microfinance, to reach those who need access to traditional banking services and delves into the difficulties Islamic banks have, such as a lack of knowledge about money and location. Data indicate that Islamic banks support economic development and stability by establishing trust via Sharia governance structures. In its last part, the report offers some suggestions on how governments may utilize Islamic banking to increase public access to financial services and promote social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new world order has been instrumental in determining and promoting multilateralism, and as a result, the world has undergone several transformations in the past few decades. Amidst heightened US-China tension, President Biden unveiled the Build Back Better World (B3W) project during the 2021-G7 meeting. The following year it was re-branded as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. While it has not been explicitly stated, B3W aims to counter China's multi-billion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Understanding B3W vs. BRI debate is important for countries, especially those in the Middle East who already perform a balancing act between the US and China. This paper assesses B3W vs. BRI debate with particular reference to the Middle East. After evaluating the contradictions and complementarities between the two projects, this paper concludes that B3W will only benefit Middle Eastern countries if it aligns with BRI, where strategic objectives and interests make parallel, such as in the avenues of cyber innovation and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the linkages between information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion, renewable energy consumption (REC), and carbon (CO 2 ) emissions across three distinct regions: the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations. We explore the causal pathways linking these variables and perform a comparative assessment of region-specific patterns with their policy implications. Utilizing a panel dataset of 28 countries from 1998 to 2019, we employ panel ARDL, FMOLS, DOLS, and D-H causality tests. The comprehensive analysis of the sample reveals that ICT development enhances CO 2 emissions, whereas REC reduces emissions. However, the comparative analysis suggests a positive linkage between ICT diffusion and CO 2 emissions in MENA and OECD countries but a negative linkage in SAARC countries. Further, REC substantially reduces emissions in MENA and OECD countries but has an insignificant effect in SAARC countries. Our findings corroborate the first-order effect of ICT (negative environmental impact) in MENA and OECD countries, with contextual variations attributed to economic structure, financial sector growth, trade openness, and industrialization. These findings offer pivotal insights for policymakers to leverage ICT capabilities and REC to attain sustainable development and mitigate climate change consequences., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The paper aims to study the Chinese growing interests in the Middle east and its implications for Saudi-Iran rapprochement. For the exceptional rise of China and its energy requirements the Middle East stands one of the most attractive destinations for its foreign policy. The recently held Sino-Arab Summit reflects Beijing's growing interests and influence in the region. Major focus of the Arab-Chinese ties lies in economic development and peaceful resolution of the regional disputes. Beijing mediated the restoration of Riyadh-Tehran diplomatic ties between the two ideological rivals, representing opposing Islamic sects - Sunni and Shia Muslims. The data has been mainly collected through secondary sources with exploratory research design. The Saudi-Iran conflictual ties can hinder Chinese trade and investment in the Middle East therefore, it has keenly assisted the Saudi-Iran rapprochement. Iran and Saudia need to capitalize Chinese growing economic and political interests in the Middle East that will be helpful for the regional and global peace and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the environment-growth nexus literature by examining corruption's effect on environmental quality in 17 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries between 1984 and 2018. We use four different indicators of environmental degradation (ecological footprint, carbon dioxide emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon emission intensity) to gain a comprehensive view of the relationship. This study's methodological value added is the application of the method of moments quantile regression, which enables us to account for different relationships between the independent variables and environmental quality at different levels of environmental degradation. The results indicate that corruption worsens environmental quality based on three of the four indicators of environmental degradation, while the impact appears to become less severe at higher levels of environmental deterioration. The results also indicate that traditional mean-based panel data estimation methods provide an incomplete picture of the factors behind environmental problems: The explanatory variables' impacts tend to vary at different levels of environmental quality, and the impact's sign can even change when moving from the lowest to the highest environmental degradation quantiles. Overall, the results highlight the importance of curbing corruption to enable enforcement of more stringent environmental regulations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper aims at opening up opportunities to look for new meanings in Indonesia's relations with Middle Eastern countries, which are no longer a binary opposition, such as the black and white mindset, but are searching for colors and other positive meanings. Many people interpret an entity solely based on a static definition, and it seems monotonous. Deconstruction seeks to offer a new sense through re-actualization, redefinition, and re-interpretation. In general, this paper discusses the "new meaning" of Indonesia's relations with the Middle East. This paper argues that to welcome Society 5.0 through Humanism, both Indonesia and the Middle East share the same opportunity to advance humanism aspects that would apply to that era. Humanism which is being developed, must be controlled by three things: anthropocentric, ecocentric, and theocentric. We need human beings' intelligent role in a society that chooses super-intelligent technology to share ordinary virtues. Hopefully, in the meantime, the Society 5.0 era will bring much help for Indonesia's cooperation with the Middle Eastern countries for a better future for both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consensus exists on the importance of heritage for ensuring sustainable futures, due to its impact on political aspects, ethical reflection and local economic development. Nowadays, using technology has become crucial in the construction industry, including heritage conservation. This paper aims to compare a selected sample of digital platforms, gathering data in support of heritage documentation, both for heritage and archeological sites. Despite the huge potential of digital technologies for contributing to heritage conservation, still there is a need for more clarity on what should be used to achieve different goals and what is the best approach under various circumstances. A team of five experts on digital technologies applied to different types of heritage worked collaboratively to gather the case studies in this paper and to analyse them comparatively. Jordan is a Middle East and North Africa country chosen as unit of analysis, because of the huge potential of digital technologies for heritage documentation. The findings from the comparative case review offers a reflection on what should best adopted for achieving different goals. Differences of approaches were revealed between the characteristics of heritage site and those of archaeological sites in Jordan's conservation history. The findings called for a prioritization of using digital technology in both heritage and archeological sites. The discussion on digital platforms currently available in Jordan allows for highlighting strengths and limitations of different approaches and methodologies, thus drawing lessons for addressing the strategic choice of the most appropriate digital solution under different circumstances and in different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper deals with the structural roots of political instability in the Middle East that has been manifested by the Arab Spring throughout the region since early 2011. The roots of the instability are seen in cumulative effects of highly uneven long‐term social change in its three main dimensions since 1960s: (1) rapid social and demographic changes, (2) slower and fluctuating economic development, and (3) rigid political subsystem. The Middle Eastern uneven social change is also under way in a specific (4) cultural and (5) international context. The political instability is thus seen as a consequence of multiple and complex interactions among various dimensions of uneven modernisation process, Islamic political imagination and the international context. The paper deals with the interactions on the macro‐level and with its politically destabilizing consequences on micro‐level using selected examples of causal mechanisms. The Middle Eastern uneven modernisation pattern is systematically documented by empirical macro‐indicators and is compared with the modernisation process in other post‐colonial world macro‐regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transferring wealth and ownership in family businesses is a pivotal juncture that can either strengthen the family legacy or dismantle its foundations. However, this paper examines the effect of inheritance risk management and family business practices on family business sustainability. It also discusses the mediating role of regulatory environment in the Middle East. Nevertheless, quantitative analysis was used to investigate the direct and indirect effects of IRM and FBP on the regulatory environment and family business sustainability as well as the mediating role of the regulatory environment using a quantitative approach through a survey design. However, a total of 116 questionnaires were collected through purposive sampling from the responses. The study sample consisted of managers who were contacted through email and social networking sites. Moreover, Smart PLS 4.1.0.1 was used to test the research hypotheses. The findings indicate that IRM and FBP have significant and positive effects on the regulatory environment in terms of the sustainability of family businesses. The result also confirms the mediating effect of the regulatory environment. The results emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to managing family businesses both in addressing internal and external challenges as strategic planning, innovation and governance structures appear as key factors affecting the sustainability of family businesses. This study suggests avenues for future research and provides practical implications for decision-makers, policy makers, practitioners and academics seeking to develop family businesses and the long-term resilience of family businesses in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic historians have recently treated Islamic institutions as "growth retarding," "averse to change," "path dependent," "lacking creative destruction" and "extractive" rather than "inclusive" and blamed their failure to change for the underdevelopment of the Middle East. This paper argues for a different approach to Islamic institutions which implies that they boosted economic growth. The paper explores changes in economic structures, a transition in population levels from high to low and a transition to individual property rights and provides economic indicators of growth. Articulated via Islamic law, legally sanctioned birth control and women's property rights were instrumental in assuring low fertility rates and equitable and well‐distributed income in the population. The paper concludes theoretically and empirically that Islamic institutions were innovative, amenable to change and efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 46 countries in "Belt and Road" (B&R) from 2004 to 2016, this paper studies the impact of innovation investment and institutional quality on green total factor productivity (GTFP). Firstly, the ICRG database, World Bank WDI database, Traditional Foundation database, and Wind database are matched to obtain the balanced panel data of 46 countries along the B&R from 2004 to 2016. Secondly, the Malmquist-Luenberger index, which can be included in the unexpected output, is used to calculate the GTFP of countries along B&R. Thirdly, the evaluation system of national institutional quality of B&R is constructed from three dimensions (political institutional quality, economic institutional quality, and legal institutional quality), and the overall system quality of different countries is measured by entropy method. Finally, an empirical study is made on the relationship among innovation investment, institutional quality, and green total factor productivity. The results show that innovation investment has significantly promoted the GTFP of the B&R countries. It is worth noting that there is a non-linear relationship between innovation investment and GTFP in the B&R countries. With the improvement of overall system quality, political system quality, economic system quality, and legal system quality, the promotion effect of innovation investment on GTFP is further enhanced. In addition, the heterogeneity regression results show that the impact of innovation investment on GTFP is significantly heterogeneous in different regions of the B&R countries. Specifically, innovation investment has the greatest impact on GTFP in South Asia, followed by East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East, and North Africa., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This article contends that just as the 1948 Arab–Israeli War shook Judaism in Tunisia and pushed to the forefront a 40-year-old fierce disagreement among the Tunisian Jews, it exposed, in an unprecedented manner, the Tunisian Muslims' mixed reactions to the Palestinian conflict and lifted the lid over an unceasing discord between the secular, Western-educated and the religious, Zitouna mosque-educated, Tunisians. A survey of a selection of editorials from Muslim papers having different ideological orientations – assimilationist, reformist, Islamist, neutral, communist, nationalist – demonstrates that reactions ranged from backing Arab troops ‘invading’ Palestine to condemnation of Western apathy to ‘prudent’ reticence to complete silence or indifference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The northern Negev—a region both geographically peripheral and environmentally marginal for human habitation—experienced increased settlement and activity in the Intermediate Bronze Age in the southern Levant (ca. 2500–2000/1950 BCE). Most interpretations link this phenomenon with Egyptian demand for copper and the accompanying development of trade networks that transported this valuable resource. However, the function of these networks, the subsistence of the peoples who operated them, and the social and economic systems that supported them remain unclear. This paper examines the means of subsistence and sustenance of the populations of these sites in the northern Negev, together with their role in supporting connections between Egypt and the southern Levant, and suggests that while their location may have been marginal, their identity and role in the social and economic system of the Intermediate Bronze Age southern Levant was not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the role of various knowledge indicators, such as research and development, information and communication technologies and trade, in the economic growth and convergence performance of 17 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries and 17 Latin American countries (LACs) during the 1980-2014 period, by utilizing dynamic panel data techniques like the pooled mean group estimation method. Our results indicate that knowledge variables seem to play an important role in the economic growth performances of both regions and, overall, there is a significant convergence among the countries in MENA and LACs. Nevertheless, our main finding is that the impact of the knowledge indicator in Latin American countries is weaker compared to the MENA region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developed and well regulated financial markets are usually seen as a precondition for an efficient allocation of resources and can foster long term economic growth. This paper explores the institutional determinants for financial development in the countries of the Middle East and North African ( MENA) region. Institutional conditions are from the International Country Risk Guide. Panel-econometric techniques are applied to assess the development in the banking sector and the stock market. As a main finding, institutional conditions are important in both financial segments, even after controlling for standard macroeconomic determinants and fixed effects. For the banking sector, corruption seems to be most decisive. For the stock market, the impact of corruption and law and order appear to be relevant. While per capita income and inflation do not seem to play a vital role, openness to foreign trade is quite important for all areas of financial development. Hence, overall, faster real economic integration is of key policy priority to improve financial development as a condition for higher GDP growth. Better law and enforcement practices and anti-corruption policies are strategies to accompany this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Labour market constraints constitute prominent obstacles to firm development and economic growth of countries located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of firm characteristics, national locations, and sectoral associations for the perceptions of firms concerning two basic labour market constraints: labour regulations and labour skill shortages. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical analysis is carried out using firm-level data set sourced from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys database. A bivariate probit estimator is used to account for potential correlations between the errors in the two labour market constraints’ equations. The authors implement overall estimations and comparative cross-country and cross-sector analyses, and use alternative estimation models. Findings – The empirical results reveal some important implications of firm characteristics (e.g. firm size, labour compositions) for firm perceptions of labour regulations and labour skill shortages. They also delineate important cross-country and cross-sector variations. The authors also find significant heterogeneity in the factors’ implications for the perceptions of firms belonging to different sectors and located in different MENA countries. Originality/value – Reforms in labour regulations and investment in human capital are important governmental policy interventions for promoting firm development and economic growth in the MENA region. This paper contributes to the empirical literature by analysing the factors influencing the perceptions of firms located in the MENA region concerning labour regulations and labour skill shortages. It provides policy-makers with information needed in the design of labour policies that attenuate the impacts of labour market constraints and enhance the performance of firms and the long-run economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been renewed interest in the relationship between economic globalization and environmental pollution since various globalization indices are developed. Although several attempts have been made to investigate the impact of globalization on the environment, no known empirical research has focused on exploring the causal relationship between ecological footprint and economic globalization index (provided by KOF Swiss Economic Institute) considering also its subcomponents-trade and financial globalization indices. In this study, a new panel data technique for the causality analysis is developed (namely, panel Fourier Toda-Yamamoto approach) and applied to ecological footprint-economic globalization nexus in 14 MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries during the period 1981-2016. The empirical results highlight that ecological footprint Granger causes economic, trade, and financial globalization for the panel. Besides, it is found that financial globalization has a predictive power to predict further values of environmental degradation in the MENA countries. The empirical results of this paper have a number of practical implications for policymakers. Especially, policymakers should be careful about implementing environmental policies since they may affect economic (trade and financial) activities negatively.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are carriers of the economic development on local, regional, and national level. With high levels of flexibility, agility and adaptability, small and medium enterprises have the ability to transform and embrace new emerging technologies and opportunities. In the Industry 4.0 world, characterized by the intensive development and integration of digital solutions into all levels of operations, SMEs are among early adopters of such solutions. The purpose of the paper is to examine how small and medium enterprises in the Middle East are increasing their competitiveness, using innovative digital and e-business solutions as key transformative tools. Within the research, a systematic review of support ecosystem for development of the sector in the Middle East has been performed. Based on the systematic review and literature findings, the 5I framework, consisting of internationalization, innovation, integration, implementation, and intensifying, has been suggested as the model for transformative development of small and medium enterprises. In the future research, it is possible to examine how fast-growing economies that create supportive environment for the development of small and medium enterprises, simultaneously recognizing digital and ebusiness solutions as important pillar of increasing competitiveness and innovativeness, might benefit from successful implementation of 5I framework for successful global transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the International Energy Agency (IEA) was established out of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) in 1974, Australia was not among its founding members. Indeed, it was opposed to its formation and even contemplated voting in the OECD to block its establishment. A single negative vote under the "mutual agreement" rule would have done so. This paper, based on archival research, explores the reasons for this course of action and shows that the decision was linked to the resource nationalism at the time of Minister Rex Connor and his fear that supporting it might jeopardise his attempts to raise non‐equity finance in the Middle East. This article shows that this previously unanalysed decision was connected to what became known as the "Loans Affair" that brought about Connor's demise and contributed to the downfall of the Whitlam Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to tie together the insights from the body of research relating to economic complexity theory, structural holes, non-price based competition, and knowledge management. The insights relating to generating national prosperity are synthesised through an intellectual capital lens.Design/methodology/approach The paper uses literature review combined with insights from an Australian project on state-based economic complexity.Findings The connectivist and autopoietic epistemological paradigms are found to be most aligned with the need to manage transformation between organisational and human resources that will achieve causal ambiguity and hence inimitability. This inimitability forms the basis for achieving non-price based competition and if there is a rich network of economic agents that, both individually and collectively through collaboration, have these characteristics a large share of the economy can operate on the basis of non-priced based competition. If all these agents have an export focus the economic complexity of the economy will be high, and likely increasing, which will enable both the creation and the appropriation of large amounts of value and hence result in increasing national prosperity.Research limitations/implications Findings are only relevant for OECD countries given the origins of the data used.Practical implications Managerial implications are outlined as are major implications for public policy.Originality/value This is the first time that these concepts are linked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to be a conceptual contribution to the special issue on "Is the Middle East the land of the future?". It aims to provide a holistic picture of the efforts of the Middle East towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), using investments in sports, as a galvanizing force. The paper concludes that, on the balance of probability, this might not be a given.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on personal observations and documentary analysis of numerous studies including those in this special issue.Findings – Although the Middle East has made "front page" news on most global media platforms – albeit for a variety of reasons, there are signs not to be too optimistic as to whether this geographic entity is, by default, the land of the future.Research limitations/implications – As a conceptual piece, this article cannot be generalized across the expanse of what constitutes the Middle East. Most of the observations are based on the most boisterous in the region – notably members of the Gulf Cooperation countries (GCC) and Turkey with its rising regional influence.Practical implications – While the Middle East may have been in the global spotlight, there remain challenges that cannot be so easily wished away. One such is the inability to leverage the investment in sports in a sustainable global partnership that spills over into other MDGs. There are persuasive arguments for deeper integration rather than what seems to be the fragmented sibling rivalry across the Middle East.Originality/value – This study provides a holistic framework for analyzing a region that has been bedeviled with unrest in recent years; and one that has, to a very large extent, weathered the storm of the Arab Spring and attracted global attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Several scholars, policymakers and international development agencies have been suggesting that trade and capital openness would bring better governance, in particular higher level of voice and accountability (VA), for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on VA in the MENA region. Design/methodology/approach – Applying two different panel models (fixed-effects and dynamic), this paper uses related observations from 19 MENA countries between 2000 and 2008 to analyze the impacts of FDI inflows on VA. Findings – The results reveal that FDI inflows do not contribute to the higher level of VA in the MENA region. Originality/value – With no previous studies of the linkage between FDI inflows and VA in the MENA region, the paper makes a significant contribution in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at reflecting the complexity of factors that determine the migratory flux that connects two of the most important geopolitical actors of today's world stage: the European Union and the countries of the Middle East. Through an analysis of relevant academic sources and statistical data provided by institutions and organizations like the World Bank, Eurostat or the U.S. Department of State, a detailed analysis of the phenomenon of immigration from the Middle East to the EU territory will be made and several conclusions regarding the main factors that determine this phenomenon will be identified. The first part of the article consists of a short analysis of the key concepts that form the basis of the more complex argumentation regarding the main factors that determine directly or indirectly the ample phenomenon of migration from the Middle East to the European Union and that will be made in the second part of the paper. These key concepts refer to the geographic boundaries of the two regions that are in the center of the analysis (the European Union and the Middle East) and the geopolitical context that characterize the situation of the two entities. After this theoretical foundation is set, a more detailed analysis of the migratory flux to the European Union in general and of the migratory flux from the Middle East region in particular is made. The results of the analysis show that there is a complex of determinant factors that explain the migration flows between the two regions, but only a couple of factors can be considered as being essential: the continuous state of armed conflicts in the Middle East and the differences in economic development between the countries that form the Middle East region and the EU Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper uses the Near East as a case study to describe how religious identity became a source of preference formation and a cause of social cleavage. It formulates the concepts of identity-sharing groups and resource-sharing groups to bridge between religious identity's social-psychological aspects and its socioeconomic effects. The paper then argues that social cleavages among religious identity-sharing groups generated informal institutions that are incompatible with the abstract formal institutions of the nation-states of Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. That incompatibility hobbles efforts of formal state institutions to promote economic development, and instead restrains economic growth by intensifying existing conflicts among groups. It suggests that a state that could promote economic development would be the one that recognizes and supports the informal, localized institutions and allows those of them with common features to evolve into abstract formal institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forging partnerships for development is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals. While faith-based organisations (fbos) are receiving growing attention within development policy as important non-state service providers, they are assumed to be less conducive to forging partnerships with governments or development organisations than secular ngos due to their allegiance to specific religious beliefs. Analysing the dynamic of engagement between the state and madrasas (the most prominent fbo in the Muslim world) in six countries across two geographical regions-the Middle East (Egypt, Syria, Turkey), and South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh)- the paper counters the assumption that fbos are less likely to enter into negotiations, demonstrate flexibility, and engage in the strategic bargaining often involved in forging such partnerships. Like ngos, fbos respond to socio-political and economic incentives and enter into a variety of relationships with the state, ranging from co-operation to conflict. The defining feature in building a cooperative relationship is the level of trust between the negotiators on the two sides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how oil price shocks affect the output growth of selected MEN A countries that are considered either net exporters or net importers of this commodity, but are too small to affect oil prices. That an individual country's economic performance does not affect world oil prices is imposed on the Vector Autoregressive setting as an identifying restriction. The estimates suggest that oil price increases have a statistically significant and positive effect on the outputs of Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. However, oil price shocks do not appear to have a statistically significant effect on the outputs of Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. When we further decompose positive oil shocks such as oil demand and oil supply for the latter set of countries, oil supply shocks are associated with lower output growth but the effect of oil demand shocks on output remain positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study which investigated the interaction between economic growth and education in Middle East and North America (MENA) countries and Turkey. It notes that the historical background of the economic development and formation of the economic institutions in the countries in the MENA region are different. Some indicators of the quality of education in the region include expenditure per student and total public spending on education as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). Overall results show that education has a positive effect on economic growth.

In the modern Middle East, proponents of economic development often mobilize the 'place' of women as an index of a country or region's modernization. In contemporary southeastern Turkey, for instance, state-led urbanization is driven and justified by the claim that women in cities are free to participate in public life, whereas women in villages are 'confined to the home.' This paper challenges that narrative by querying the figure of confinement to the home. I begin by exploring the social scientific convention that takes the boundary of the house (inside/outside, private/public, female/male) as a stable axis of comparison across time and space. Then, drawing on my fieldwork in the city of Urfa in southeastern Turkey, I track how the inside/outside boundary is phenomenally and differentially instantiated in three types of home-village, urban, and peri-urban. I argue that, in Urfa, the notion of a bounded home arises only in the context of urbanization, as an emergent middle class moves into modern apartment buildings, setting themselves apart from villagers and migrants both socially and spatially. Here, 'confinement to the home,' far from a mark of backwardness, is for local women a badge of middle-class respectability. I thus show how the question of domestic boundaries, far more than a developmental or scholarly preoccupation, acts as an important means of self-positioning and social differentiation in a multi-ethnic, cross-class context. [Turkey, urbanization, gender, spatial politics, migration and cosmopolitanism] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is suggested to be one of the key sources which promote economic growth and development, the increasing interest in entrepreneurship has expanded to include a sustainable and knowledge enhanced economic growth and development as requirements for the economic structural transformation. Furthermore, sustainable economic growth leads to enhance the promising production sectors and enterprises, which in turn increase entrepreneurial activities, enterprises and sectors. Therefore, the aim of our work is to highlight the nexus relationship and impact of both entrepreneurship and economic growth on each other. Thus, we emphasize the value of entrepreneurship as an economic growth promoter, from one side, and we detect the influence of economic growth on entrepreneurship in a panel of countries in the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Our panel data is including eight middle income level countries from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which are (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey) over the period from 2003 to 2019. A recent and notable econometric technique has been run that is a dynamic panel Data System analysis (GMM system technique), Arellano-Bond/Blundell-Bond estimators. Data were collected from World Bank and UNCTAD. The empirical findings show that there is a positive association between entrepreneurship and economic growth. Furthermore, the findings emphasize that entrepreneurship promotes economic growth. The findings of this work would be useful to policymakers in identifying and implementing the most effective measures to remove the macroeconomic barriers that entrepreneurs encounter, as well as package of policies have been provided to stimulate innovative entrepreneurial activities and enterprises. The article also recommends to invest more in human capital in order to improve managerial skills and productivity. In addition, government should invest more to create high-quality social and physical infrastructure and alliances to support business friendly environment and to establish efficient access to financing, foreign markets and access to technology methods for established and new start-ups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though it may seem that information floats on its own throughout the Internet, in reality someone must make policies and financial decisions to gather and organize data and prepare it for retrieval at the appropriate time. It must be stored in various formats in information hubs. These information hubs are essential components of the Internet, itself an essential component of socioeconomic development. But are these information hubs acknowledged in international development planning in the Information Age? This paper discusses information centers – libraries, archives and museums – in the context of coordinated global planning for socioeconomic development and offers a metric by which information centers may be correlated to a country’s social and economic advancement. It concludes with reflections about information components of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the needs to gather data and expand information centers in order to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the growth of per capita GDP in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBG) from 1950 to 2005. Data from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank is integrated with Angus Maddison's estimates of per capita GDP of the WBG and Israel to produce new estimates of per capita GDP for the WBG from 1950–2005 in 1990 international dollars. With these new estimates, it is possible to compare the growth in WBG from an international perspective. One finding is that from 1968 to 1999 the economic growth in WBG was the tenth highest in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to describe "transformative scenario planning," a methodology that enables people trying to change the future collaboratively to transform, rather than adapt to, a situation.Design/methodology/approach – The process centers on constructing scenarios of possible futures for a situation, but takes the well-established adaptive scenario planning methodology and turns it on its head – to construct scenarios not only to understand the future, but also to influence it.Findings – Transformative scenario planning teams have tackled some of the most important and difficult challenges of our time: health care, economic development, and climate change across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Some of these teams succeeded in changing their situation and others have failed.Practical implications – The five steps of transformative scenario planning are: convening a team from across the whole system; observing what is happening; constructing stories about what could happen; discovering what can and must be done; and acting to transform the system.Originality/value – The process centers on constructing scenarios of possible futures for a situation, not only to understand the future, but also to learn how to influence it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the internal organisation of the societies of the Middle East and how that may have influenced the economic institutions to explain the economic trajectory of the region since the medieval era. Societies of the Middle East experienced a good deal of institutional change since the rise of Islam. While many of these changes were in response to the changing circumstances, they also reflected the social structure and prevailing power balances. Beginning in the medieval era and continuing with the Ottomans in the early modern period, political power was concentrated in the hands of the sovereign and the state elites around him. In contrast, the influence of various social groups, not only of landowners but also of merchants, manufacturers and moneychangers, over economic matters, and more generally over the policies of the central government remained limited. As a result, societies in the Middle East did not develop institutions more independent of the state and the state elites and more in favour of the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the distinctive characteristics of commercial development and its effect on the shaping of the urban form in rapidly developing port cities with a special emphasis on Mersin, which had been an emerging city in the Eastern Mediterranean from the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. This paper questions the relations between commercial development and morphological change in terms of the functional and spatial patterns that emerged as a result of commercial activity, and the motivating force behind them. The port city is conceived as a spatial expression of core–periphery relations, in which they serve as an essential intermediate stop from where commodities are transferred to and from the agrarian periphery and the industrial core. The findings of the study revealed that the commercial development of Mersin between the late nineteenth century and mid-twentieth century was in the form of sui-generis development as a mercantile port of exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean. The commercial development, which came into being in a gradual and piecemeal manner rather than depending on planned and coordinated large-scale redevelopments, revealed itself spatially through land-use differentiation and specialized commercial environments. The notable tradesmen at the very top of the hierarchical structure positioned themselves at the very centre of the process by organizing a network of distribution and credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract To the best of our knowledge, there is no econometric study on the causal relationship between renewable or fossil energies and terrorism, nor on terrorism in France. This paper tries to fill this gap and considers other variables as economic growth and trade openness. The autoregressive distributed lag approach and Granger causality are used for annual data on France covering the period 1980–2015. The Wald test confirms the existence of long-run relationships between the considered variables. Granger causality reveals long-run bidirectional causalities between all the variables. Interestingly, in the short-run, there are unidirectional causalities running from renewable energy to terrorism, and from terrorism to trade openness, and there is bidirectional causality between terrorism and economic growth. Long-run parameter estimates show that more renewable energy consumption and more trade increase both terrorism and economic growth. However, economic growth reduces terrorism in the long-run and appears as a powerful tool to combat terrorism in France. In addition, France is recommended to continue encouraging the use of renewable energies, and at the same time, to make more diplomatic efforts to resolve political and military conflicts in the world, and particularly in the Middle East. Highlights • There is long-run bidirectional causality between renewable energy and terrorism. • There is long-run bidirectional causality between fossil energy and terrorism. • There is short-run unidirectional causality running from renewable energy to terrorism. • In the long run, renewables increase terrorism and economic growth. • In the long run, economic growth reduces terrorism and increases renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper develops a methodology to construct detailed indices of financial sector development across countries and uses it to create a new panel database of financial sector development in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. It combines existing quantitative data with information from comprehensive surveys undertaken in 2000-01 Sand 2002-03. The data show that some MENA countries have relatively well-developed banking sectors and regulatory and supervisory regimes. However across the region, the nonbank financial sectors and sup- porting institutions are in need of reform. The MENA region ranks far behind industrialized countries and East Asia in financial sector development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]