Search

The empirical developments made by Phillips are at the origin of theoretical orientations highlighting the capacity utilization rate in relation to inflation. It is in this innovative framework that our research whose focus seems to be varied but we tried to concentrate on the comparison between inflation-unemployment relationships through the NAIRU on the one hand, and the inflation-capacity utilization relationship through the NAIRCU on the other hand. Therefore, the degree of asymmetry between NAIRU and NAIRCU becomes particularly important when the economy operates at an unemployment rate far away from the NAIRU or a capacity utilization rate much higher than the NAIRCU.

Earlier investigations have concentrated on the effect of export expansion on economic growth while ignoring the importance of the stability of such relationship. This paper re-investigates empirically the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis for five countries in the MENA region: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey, using the Granger causality technique. This study covers the sample period from 1980:Q1 to 2012:Q4. With the full sample, we find evidence supporting the ELG hypothesis only in Jordan, Morocco, and Turkey. Nonetheless, our time-varying Granger causality results have significantly validated the evidence of instability of the ELG hypothesis in these MENA countries. Therefore, changes in policies and regulations to improve the export sector of these countries will not ultimately pay off in terms of achieving high rates of stable economic growth in these countries. Policymakers in these countries should search for the alternative catalyst of growth to continuously as well as to effectively promote long-term economic growth in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the environmental protests that occurred in Tunisia after the 2011 uprisings. It analyses the factors underpinning the rise of the environmental networks during the period of transition (2011-2014). It details the mobilising strategies that were crucial for the networks' growth or survival during this period of institutional instability. The study shows how networks leaders were able to bring together social and political actors from different backgrounds and ideological orientations. It is argued that the ability of networks to develop new distinctive collective identities was crucial for network sustainability. Those networks and actors who did not develop new clearly defined environmental identities and continued to rely importantly on pre-existing (authoritarian) structures and practices were more negatively impacted by ideological cleavages and political calculations. Empirically, the contribution builds on interviews and observations, as well as documents collected from Tunisian municipalities between 2013 and 2015. Conceptually, the research proposes a bottom-up perspective that highlights the interplay between micro- and macrodynamics and strategies during a political transition. The analysis details the actors' capacity to build alliances via interpersonal relations at the micro level, and their strategies to engage with institutional actors and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By investigating factors influencing interest margins adjustment, this paper aims to provide some answers on how to improve the efficiency of the Tunisian banking system. Focusing on different theoretical views on the determinants of banks intermediation margins using a quite representative sample observed between 1999 and 2014, we estimate an augmented model using the system GMM estimator assuming the existence of adjustment costs. Estimations results and robustness checks show that reducing intermediation margins of Tunisian banks is fundamentally a matter of improving cost efficiency, scale economies and competitiveness. Considering the highly distressed economic and financial context in which Tunisian banks operate since 2011, we think that improving bank efficiency and credit access in Tunisia is closely related to the capacity of the government and the regulatory authority to enforce urgent strategic reforms in order to consolidate the banking system and to improve its competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore preparers’ and users’ perception of intellectual capital (IC) usefulness and to examine the significant differences in the usefulness perceptions of IC information and its categories according to sex, age, function, educational level, specialty and professional experience of respondents.Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study drew on a questionnaire survey sent to five groups of preparers and users who were asked to provide their usefulness perception about information on IC and its categories.Findings This paper found that the five preparers and users groups perceive information on IC as well as its three categories as useful for their decision-making purposes. In addition, it concluded that the usefulness perception of IC information does not differ by sex, age, function, educational level and specialty of the respondents, but it differs according to the professional experience.Practical implications To the extent that users perceive IC information as useful, managers are encouraged to disclose more information about this hidden capital in order to improve their transparency. As there are no generally accepted IC reporting guidelines and in order to fill informational gaps between companies and their stakeholders, accounting standards bodies could regulate the IC information disclosure by developing relevant communication standards in accordance with stakeholders’ expectations. They may identify information items that should be considered as a priority by making them mandatory for disclosure purposes, and other items voluntary.Originality/value The paper can be regarded as the first exploratory study to investigate the IC information usefulness from the perspectives of five preparers and users groups in Tunisia, as an example of a developing economy in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empirical developments made by Phillips are at the origin of theoretical orientations highlighting the capacity utilization rate in relation to inflation. It is in this innovative framework that our research whose focus seems to be varied but we tried to concentrate on the comparison between inflation-unemployment relationships through the NAIRU on the one hand, and the inflation-capacity utilization relationship through the NAIRCU on the other hand. Therefore, the degree of asymmetry between NAIRU and NAIRCU becomes particularly important when the economy operates at an unemployment rate far away from the NAIRU or a capacity utilization rate much higher than the NAIRCU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive contribution of women’s education to the economy and society has long been known in many countries, particularly in developing countries, to attract more attention. A large number of literatures on women’s education clearly suggest that educating a woman is equivalent to educating a family and that this woman is better educated than her counterparts, men, in many respects. The low level of education of women in Muslim countries, most of which are in developing countries. The increase in the level of education depends on the elimination of gender inequalities in education. Muslim countries must use all their resources to achieve their economic development goals. Women’s participation in the economy is a major economic resource that is not widely used in Muslim countries. The literature (Dollar and Garti in Gender inequality, income, and growth: are good times good for women? World Bank Working Paper, 21-2 1999; Barro in The Contribution of Human and Social Capital to Sustained Economic Growth and Well Being, Canada Government, Portage 2001; Schltz 2002; Klasen 2002; Knowles et al. in Oxf. Econ. Pap. 54 118-149 2002) suggests that gender equality has a positive effect on economic growth. Taking into account Muslim countries, it can reasonably be argued that the rate of the gender effect on economic growth is higher in developing countries. This paper analyzes the impact of gender inequality in education on economic growth for tunisia will be explored, using econometric techniques. The document will take into account all variables of primary school graduation, obtaining a high school diploma, obtaining a high school diploma and obtaining a University degree with economic growth will be examined in detail for the period 1970-2009. At this level Women’s contribution to the economy is threefold. The first is that the increase in the level of human capital, as a result, decrease the fertility rate of women. The second argument is that the infant mortality rate could decrease by decreasing the fertility rate of women. Third, raising the level of education of women can affect the level of education of the next generation positively. In this context, in order to understand the long-term relationships between these variables, i.e. gender inequality in education and economic growth, a co-integration approach will be applied. The empirical results show that there is a long-term relationship between these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of health in human capital is now recognized, as is the role of capital in economic growth since Schultz (1961) and Becker (1964). The objective of this paper is to use some recent developments in nonstationary time series econometrics to explore the cointegration between health spending and economic growth in Tunisia over a period of forty-four years. This paper shows a positive relationship between health spending and economic growth. However, Tunisia needs to be able to provide more efforts in this vital sector, with complementarity between the private sector and the public sector to be ensured. This is the guarantee of an increase in real output in Tunisia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of this paper is to investigate the impact of citrus exports on the economic growth on Tunisia since it never been treated before. In order to achieve this purpose, annual data were collected from the reports of Tunisian Central Bank for the periods between 1970 and 2016 was tested by using co integration analysis of Error Correction Model. According to the result of the analysis, citrus exports do not influence on economic growth in the long term. However, empirical results show that there is a positive unidirectional causality from citrus exports to economic growth in the short run. These results provide evidence that citrus exports, thus, are not seen as source of economic growth in Tunisia because the miserable economic strategy. For this reason, it is very important to make new reforms and to create robustness strategies to refine investment and trade strategy in this sector, so it can support economic growth in Tunisia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subprime mortgage crisis seriously confounded world financial markets, pushing the real economies of Tunisia’s trading partners into recession. In addition, deterioration of public finance and the downgrading of sovereign national debt further impacted members of the euro zone, undermining the credibility of the single European currency. The combination of factors greatly impacted Tunisian economic performance, leading to a negative current account trade balance as of July 2012. The Tunisian current account balance as of July 2012 was -6,366.4 million dinars (MD) a decrease of 2,230.2 MD and 1,478.3 MD respectively over 2011 (when the current account balance was -4,136.2MD) and 2010 (when the current account balance was -4,888.1MD).

Water is considered a major social and political issue. This article stands out by its quantification of the impact of socio-political disturbances on social behavior regarding the consumption of drinking water. It also allows the monitoring of fluctuation of the economic pattern through the main economic sectors during these disturbances by the study of a revolution impact-case of the revolution in Tunisia in January 2011, on the spatial, temporal and sectorial variation of the drinking water consumption. Six water users covering the whole consumption are considered in this study: connected and non connected household users, tourism, industries, collective and various other users. Among the results, in this coastal country, the relation between drinking water consumption by tourism, the touristic activities and the national economy are clearly established. All these components are similarly affected by the socio political disturbances but longer lasting fallouts hit only the most vulnerable regions of the country. Industrial activities that used drinking water seemed to be affected only when the socio political disturbance is at its paroxysm due to strikes, sit-ins of unemployed people, job seekers protests and companies closure. The revolution impacts such as weakening of the State's authority when facing inappropriate and illegitimate social desires, anarchy, people displacement and refugees are the major causes of non-connected household drinking water waste or over-consumption (up to 89 %) and an alarming increase of the induced breakages (+445 % in 2012 compared to 2010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality tests to investigate short and long-run relationships between per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, real gross domestic product (GDP), renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, trade openness ratio and agricultural value added (AVA) in Tunisia spanning the period 1980–2011. The Johansen-Juselius test shows that all our considered variables are cointegrated. Short-run Granger causality tests reveal the existence of bidirectional causalities between AVA and CO2emissions, and between AVA and trade. There are short-run unidirectional causalities running from non-renewable energy and GDP to AVA and to renewable energy, and running from CO2emissions to renewable energy. Interestingly, there are long-run bidirectional causalities between all considered variables. Our long-run parameters estimates show that non-renewable energy, trade and AVA increase CO2emissions, whereas renewable energy reduces CO2emissions. In addition, the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is not supported. Our policy recommendations are to increase international economic exchanges because this gives new opportunities to the agricultural sector to develop and to benefit from renewable energy technology transfer. Subsidizing renewable energy use in the agricultural sector enables it to become more competitive on the international markets while polluting less and contributing to combat global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a method for the provision of the human thermal comfort through solar activated solid desiccant cooling technologies is discussed. These technologies were numerically studied under different Tunisian climatic conditions (relatively cold and humid: Bizerte; hot and dry: Remeda; moderate: Djerba). The studied solid desiccant cooling is based on the use of a fixed solid desiccant bed instead of a rotary desiccant wheel. The development of the mathematical equations modeling the functioning of the different components (solid fixed bed, heat exchanger, humidifier, solar collector) is based on heat and mass transfers' balances. Results showed good functioning and applicability of these studied systems for various outdoor conditions of the major Tunisian cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, regulators have increased their focus on the capital adequacy of banking institutions in order to enhance the stability of the financial system. A major step in that direction are minimal risk-=based capital requirements for banks, referred to as the Basel II Accord. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which bank capital regulation, measured by Basel II implementation, has affected the willingness of banks to lend or invest in other assets. This study differs from past ones in that it uses a cross-section time series data set spanning annual observations covering 1997-2013 for individual banks in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. In general, the results provide clear support for an increase in credit growth following the implementation of capital regulations. Despite higher capital adequacy ratios, banks extended lending and grew assets, including their holding of government securities. Credit growth appears to reflect demand instabilities ascribed to real growth, cost of borrowing and exchange rate risk. Generally, macroeconomic variables, in contrast to capital adequacy, seem to prevail in predicting credit growth, irrespective of the capital sufficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article aims at measuring recommendation value on the Tunisian market and uses a hand-collected database of 6646 recommendations (2005-2009). We apply the methodology of calendar-time portfolio analysis. This consists of simulating a portfolio that would include stocks depending on the recommendations issued by financial analysts. In order to measure abnormal (or 'excess') returns, the raw return of the portfolio is then compared to the evolution of the stock index and to the prediction of the Capital Asset-Pricing Model. Some of the portfolios we build earn a positive significant excess risk-adjusted return of 1.19% per month. Beyond the results that are in line with the literature, we provide two original results. First, 'sell' signals are informative, whereas 'buy' signals are not. We suggest that it is related to large (small) firms having more 'buy' ('sell') recommendations and to the direction of the market trend over the period. Second, the fact that recommendation levels have more impact than recommendation changes is explained by the specific informational context on that market, which is that recommendations are systematically disclosed each month, whereas on other markets, recommendations are produced only when the analyst has some new information to disclose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greek presence in Tunisia dates back to the middle of the sixteenth century, when merchants and ex-slaves, once victims of the pirates operating in North Africa, settled primarily in the ports of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. During that period, Tunisia was part of the Ottoman Empire, and from1705 a semi-independent hegemony. The French invasion of North Africa was a crucial point in the Greek community's long presence in Tunisia. The French colonial policy brought tremendous changes in the social life of people residing in multinational Tunisia, including Greeks. The decade between 1920 and 1930 marked a series of reforms in the governmental structures of Tunisia. These events also affected Greek residents in Tunisia. Although they retained their religious identity, their ethnic orientation became directly dependent on these political and social changes, since that is when the majority of Greeks acquired French citizenship. It is important to examine whether this shift was accompanied by a transformation of the Greek national identity and the extent of its influence within the actual Greek community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se examina la capacidad a largo plazo de Túnez de generar empleo. Con datos de panel de 15 sectores económicos de 1983-2010, los autores estiman sus elasticidades producto-empleo a largo plazo utilizando el estimador de media grupal. Según sus resultados, la política económica debería orientarse a los sectores más intensivos en empleo: servicios y manufacturas exportadoras. Destaca la incapacidad del sector minero de absorber mano de obra, por lo que la inversión en el mismo no será productiva; asimismo, el crecimiento sin empleo a largo plazo de la hotelería y restauración induce a pensar que deberían fomentarse más las actividades paraturísticas que las turísticas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Principal Component Analysis for a sample of 263 municipalities, the aim of this paper is to use a multidimensional poverty approach and build a composite index of well-being that pinpoint the pockets of poverty in Tunisia, the regional disparities and disparities between cities and their peripheries. A deep analysis of this problem shows that there is a close relation between poverty, economic and geographic exclusion. Poverty is attributed to unemployment, dysfunction of labor market, unequal public expenditures in infrastructure, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of internal control weaknesses (ICW) and family ownership on the cost of debt in the Tunisian setting. We document that ICW and family ownership are positively associated with the cost of debt. When testing for the moderating effect of family ownership on the association between ICW and the cost of debt, we document that the positive effect of ICW on the cost of debt is more pronounced under high family ownership in the Tunisian setting. Furthermore, the positive and significant association between ICW and the cost of debt is more prevailing for firms audited by non-Big 4 auditors and industrial companies. These findings may have policy implications for Tunisian policymakers with respect to the establishment of internal control standards. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an original essay that explains the mobility behaviour towards the public transport supply in Tunisia. This research aims to determine the key variables affecting an individual's decision to travel by public transport and explains how the use of these means fits the mobility strategies. The dynamic panel model is applied to twelve Tunisian Regional companies, where we aim to analyze the behaviours of Tunisian citizens in the regions where Regional Transport Companies ensure the total service supply of urban, interurban and suburban public transport of travellers. The results show that mobility behaviours are subject to various variables. In particular, service quality, mean price and active population are the most significant variables regarding public transport demand in Tunisia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a threshold regression model, we analyse the impact of fiscal policy on private consumption in Tunisia, over the 1975-2010 period. Our empirical results revealed that public expenditure and tax revenues have Keynesian effects on consumption, when private debt/GDP ratio is below 48 %. This effect becomes non-Keynesian once this threshold is exceeded. We provide empirical evidence that private consumption reacts in non-linear fashion to changes in fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the performance pattern in the Tunisian drinking water industry. The industry is a state monopoly, administered by the Tunisian Water Utility (TWU) since 1968. We apply the stochastic distance frontier method to TWU data over a period of 11 years, from 1999 to 2009. This approach is used to estimate water production technology, to measure technical efficiency levels and total factor productivity growth, and to investigate the factors influencing efficiency levels and those driving productivity growth. The results suggest that performance-based regulation can improve efficiency and enhance productivity in the Tunisian water industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted tofind out the nutritive value of different cuts of goat carcass. Meat samples were obtained from goat kids in Tunisia. Twenty-six indigenous kids were divided into three groups: oat hay (control), dried olive leaves + dried Stipa tenacissima, and grass hay. The cuts were the shoulder, chest, and leg of each goat carcass. Tissue compositions of different cuts and meat physicochemical parameters were determined. Percentage of muscle was higher in shoulders (61.57%) and legs (58.89%). The percentage of fat was higher in the chest (24.74%). Percentage of bone was higher in legs and shoulders. The percentage of muscle and bone was similar in the three diet treatments. The fat percentage tended to be higher in the grass hay group. The mean pH value of different cuts differed significantly; it was higher in shoulders, but pH values did not differ significantly according to different diets. The crude protein content of meat was similar in the three cuts and three diets. Fat contents and dry matter of different cuts differed significantly and shoulder portions contained higher crude protein and dry matter (3.95% and 22.61%) than other portions. The ash content was similar in different cuts and diets. The major mineral contents did not differ significantly [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]