DAY 1 - The 18th Annual Conference of the Arab Society for Economic Research

The rise of the middle class in the emerging economies is affecting significantly consumption habits and thus, transforming these economies. The size and growth of the middle class is of interest to gauge market potential for many products, and can serve as a barometer of political awareness. Measuring the Middle Class using income presents many challenges, beginning with finding an appropriate definition. Previous research by Ali and Dadush (2012) suggested an alternative measure, ...

The co-author, Bertrand Bio-Mama, is an alumnus of the Emerging Leaders Program 2017. Les échanges commerciaux ont, depuis des siècles, été au cœur des enjeux économiques à travers le monde. L’histoire nous apprend, par exemple, qu’au XVIIIème siècle, la recherche de nouveaux marchés avait poussé l’Europe à aller à la conquête du monde. En effet, les échanges commerciaux représentent un instrument important, voire vital, pour la croissance de l’économie et le progrès social. De nos ...

The author is an alumnus of the 2017 Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program Globalization has led to discourses on leadership and management having different perspectives. Today, one of the discourses includes gender diversity in leadership positions across organizations. The data continuously shows that women’s access to the coveted C-suite and management positions in organizations are comparatively limited. Therefore, this piece examines women’s representation on African cor ...

Twenty years after negotiations began between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), a trade agreement between ministers was reached last Friday in Brussels. Its first phase, from 1999 to 2014, had among the motivations on the European side not to be left behind while the US then pursued a Free Trade Agreement for Latin America (FTAA). Symptomatically, such enthusiasm cooled after FTAA negotiations came to a halt and the United States embarked on bilateral agreements with some countr ...

Quelle place l’Afrique occupe-t-elle dans le système de règlement des différends de l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce ? Les règles et procédures régulant ce système profitent-elles aussi bien aux pays en développement qu’aux pays développés, ou restent-elles l’apanage de ces derniers ? Le continent africain a-t-il les moyens de faire fonctionner un tel système ? La place marginale qu’occupe l’Afrique dans le système est-elle due à des facteurs endogènes ou à des facteurs exogènes  ...

After a long spell of slow growth in the wake of the global financial crisis, the global economy was gaining speed over 2016-2018, but this recovery is now in some danger. The likelihood of imminent recession is low but growth will be slow over 2019-2020, and growth next year presents many uncertainties. Growth is supported by the consumer for the time being, but business has become very nervous and something will have to give. There are significant and specific risks in the large e ...

Empirical models of international commodity trade ows tend to show that exchange rate volatility has either no or negative impact on export volumes. This analysis has a number of limitations. In particular, it underestimates the role of physical traders and, consequently, the importance of future markets. In this context, this article aims to provide the theoretical underpinnings to demonstrate that these traders play a very particular role and that they have an influence on the rea ...