nep-ara New Economics Papers
on MENA - Middle East and North Africa
Issue of 2025–04–21
twelve papers chosen by
Paul Makdissi, Université d’Ottawa


  1. Structural hypocrisy in humanitarian aid: a justice-oriented counter-story of how donors fund both relief and destruction in Gaza By Espejo, Irene Ruiz; Bastable, Emily; Boxall, Jessica; Jacob, Chandni; Norton, Frankie; Pathak, Pathik
  2. Libya Economic Monitor, Spring 2023 By World Bank
  3. Understanding Urban Informality in Iraq By Dalal Moosa; Joanna Abdel Ahad; Vanessa Moreira
  4. An Exploration of the Importance of Employee Empowerment and Perceptions During Cluster Transformation in a Saudi Arabian Health Care Institution By Aldhaher, Hossam
  5. Iran Economic Monitor, Spring/Summer 2023 By World Bank
  6. Gulf Economic Update, Spring 2023 By World Bank
  7. Algeria Economic Update, Spring 2023 By World Bank
  8. Iraq Economic Monitor, Spring/Summer 2023 - Reemerging Pressures By World Bank
  9. Climate Risk and Poverty in the Middle East and North Africa By Balasubramanian, Chitra; Sandra Baquie; Alan Fuchs
  10. Pioneering Marine Spatial Planning in Morocco By World Bank
  11. Action Alert? Endemic Gender-Based Violence in the Middle East and North Africa By World Bank
  12. Yemen Country Economic Memorandum 2022 By World Bank

  1. By: Espejo, Irene Ruiz; Bastable, Emily; Boxall, Jessica; Jacob, Chandni; Norton, Frankie; Pathak, Pathik
    Abstract: Background: The latest military assault on Gaza by Israel, which began after 7 October 2023, has led to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, with tens of thousands killed, nearly two million displaced, and famine officially declared in 2024. The near-total siege cut off food, water, electricity, and medical supplies, while relentless bombardments destroyed critical infrastructure, rendering Gaza unliveable. Many donor nations have simultaneously provided humanitarian aid to Gaza while supplying military assistance to Israel, underscoring the structural hypocrisy in international responses to the catastrophe in Gaza. Methods: In this article, we introduce and develop the concept of justice-oriented counter-stories (JOCS) to critically examine how quantitative datasets on humanitarian aid flows can distort reality and obscure key disparities. Using aid to Gaza in 2023–2024 as a case study, we apply JOCS to identify biases in official reporting and make statistical adjustments to offer an alternative perspective. Results: Our justice-oriented analytical lens shows how the countries humanitarian aid rankings shift significantly when we factor in donor nations’ GDP, and the structural hypocrisy of offering humanitarian aid while simultaneously providing significant military assistance to Israel. Our paper also identifies some of the key methodological challenges in making such adjustments. Conclusion: We conclude by emphasising the broader implications of “justice-oriented counter-stories” for understanding not only aid flows, but social justice and the representation of social and environmental issues.
    Date: 2025–03–26
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7zygu_v1
  2. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Economic Growth Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Inflation Social Protections and Labor-Labor Markets
    Date: 2023–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:40060
  3. By: Dalal Moosa; Joanna Abdel Ahad; Vanessa Moreira
    Keywords: Social Protections and Labor-Employment and Unemployment Social Protections and Labor-Work & Working Conditions Social Protections and Labor-Labor Law Social Protections and Labor-Social Protections & Assistance
    Date: 2023–07
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:40069
  4. By: Aldhaher, Hossam
    Abstract: Background: In today's highly competitive business environment, organizations are increasingly turning to employee empowerment as a management strategy to meet the increased demand for high-quality work and compliance to gain a competitive edge. Employee empowerment refers to the process of giving employees the authority and responsibility to make decisions and take actions that affect their work and the organization as a whole. Currently; there are limited data concerning healthcare institution cluster transformation in Saudi Arabia, thus current status exploration is vital, as it is critical to guarantee that employees feel empowered to do their duties by assuring concurrent and streamlined department growth. Materials and Methods: Descriptive resulting perceptions will be identified in a two-dimensional study design based on staff empowerment E3 survey tools; one copy of the survey will be given to each employee, and they will be asked to complete it anonymously. Meanwhile, their immediate supervisor should also complete the same survey. Finally, we will have two surveys: one indicating employees' average replies and one indicating how their immediate supervisor’s average perception. Finally, analyze the disparity between how essential employees believe a particular category is and how successfully the firm, in their opinion, addresses that topic. Results: Employees and their immediate supervisors in our cohort had very disparate perspectives on the value and use of empowerment, and many predictors require urgent attention to obtain proper empowerment strategies. Conclusions: Employee empowerment is a crucial management approach that has a wide range of benefits for organizations, such as higher work satisfaction, lower turnover rates, and enhanced productivity. To create a seamless, secure, and successful employee empowerment model, prescreening to the predicating indications that influence employee empowerment is essential.
    Date: 2023–04–26
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:fk2pa_v1
  5. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Gender-Gender and Development Gender-Gender Monitoring and Evaluation Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Economic Growth Law and Development-Labor & Employment Law
    Date: 2023–08
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:40243
  6. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Economic Growth Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Inflation Health, Nutrition and Population-Disease Control & Prevention
    Date: 2023–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:39932
  7. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Energy-Oil & Gas Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Inflation Environment-Adaptation to Climate Change
    Date: 2023–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:39928
  8. By: World Bank
    Date: 2023–07
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:40103
  9. By: Balasubramanian, Chitra; Sandra Baquie; Alan Fuchs
    Abstract: The Middle East and North Africa faces significant climate challenges, such as increasing temperatures, heightened flood risks, frequent droughts, and growing air pollution issues. These challenges are compounded by the large proportion of the population living below the poverty line in some countries in the region. Indeed, people living in poverty are more exposed to poor air quality and natural disasters as they disproportionately tend to live in hazard-prone areas. They are also more vulnerable as they may have scarcer resources to cope with shocks. This paper combines remote sensing, geospatial data, and household surveys to provide high-resolution assessments of the exposure and vulnerability of the region’s population and poor people to four types of climate shocks. With the data available, the paper estimates that almost the entirety of the extreme poor population is exposed to at least one climate shock. The region hosts climate-poverty hot spots in the Republic of Yemen and Morocco, where adaptation to climate change will be crucial to end poverty. The resulting high-resolution estimates of exposure and vulnerability can inform the targeting of climate adaptation measures.
    Date: 2025–03–25
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11092
  10. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Environment-Coastal and Marine Environment Environment-Climate Change and Environment Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Economic Investment & Savings
    Date: 2023–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:39860
  11. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Gender-Gender and Law Law and Development-Law and Gender Social Development-Social Conflict and Violence
    Date: 2023–07
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:40085
  12. By: World Bank
    Keywords: Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Inflation Poverty Reduction-Poverty Diagnostics Macroeconomics and Economic Growth-Economic Forecasting
    Date: 2023–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:39914

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