Foreign investments, Commercial treaties, Privatization, Free trade, Economic development research, Arab countries -- Economic conditions, and Panel analysis

The paper studies location determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) to 16 Arab economies over the period from 1984 to 2012, by employing Arellano–Bover/Blundell–Bond linear dynamic panel data estimation. We find that market size, trade openness, preferential trade agreements and financial development have significant positive impact on FDI inflows to Arab economies. FDI in Arab economies appears to be resource seeking since the total oil supply variable is positive and significant. The paper finds that better institutions and educated labour force may play a key role in attracting FDI inflows. We suggest that Arab economies should sequence their economic policy measures with the institutional ones, beginning with a focus on privatization and trade liberalization, and subsequently shift to improvement in economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

CIVIL-military relations, POLITICAL change, POLITICAL organizations, ARAB countries -- Economic conditions, and AUTHORITARIANISM

Every actor who commands coercive resources plays a relevant role in the complex processes of state restructuring following regime change. The role of armies in the 2010-2011 Arab uprisings has been widely explored, but limited attention has been devoted to how different agents with coercive power have been involved in the restructuring of political order. This contribution presents the theoretical framework within which the remaining empirical contributions are situated. The central insight is that better understanding of the emerging political orders requires moving away from binary notions of hierarchy and anarchy as ordering principles and look at how, within heterarchical political orders, coercive agents behave within fluid state-society relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BANK profits, ECONOMIC liberty, and ARAB countries -- Economic conditions

This study empirically examines the impact of economic freedom quality and global financial crisis on the banking sector profitability in the Arab region. The analysis is performed by employing system GMM estimation in panel data comprising of 14 Arab countries over the period 1985-2016. The study constructed an economic freedom index based on the economic freedom indicators. The findings indicate that greater economic freedom has positively influenced the profitability of the Arab banking sector. The results also suggest that the more profitable banks are those that have lower operating expenses against asset and income, better capitalized, more diversified and concentrated at economies having growth in the GDP. Furthermore, the global financial crisis in 2008 negatively impacted the profits of Arab banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JOURNALISM, ARAB journalists, ECONOMIC security, ARAB countries -- Economic conditions, and ARAB countries -- Social conditions

Personnel management, Economic equilibrium, and Arab countries -- Economic conditions

The paper investigates the link between human resources management and the economic, social and political transformations taking place in the Arab world. As in many countries of the world, human capital is the driving force for all other resources. Statistics show that about 60 % (this percentage presents more than 225 million) of the Arab world population are young people, which creates an urgent challenge in the proper management and the optimum utilization of this resource. In order to obtain the necessary data for our study, we distributed questionnaires through the net, these data were treated by using the software application SPSS (19th version). Our study shows that human resources management is influenced by many indicators among them: changes in government legislations and regulations, economic instability, especially the decline in exports and the decrease in tourism revenues, in addition to other social indicators such as: changes in people values and attitudes, the difference in the workforce construction (because of refugees#8230;), generally, these factors are caused by the Arab Spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DEMOGRAPHIC change, SCARCITY, CLIMATE change, CRONY capitalism, SUSTAINABLE development, and ARAB countries -- Economic conditions

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ECONOMIC policy, ECONOMIC development, ECONOMIC reform, MONETARY policy, FOREIGN exchange rates, and ARAB countries -- Economic conditions

The economic literature shows the existence of a real impact of the economic policies on economic growth. Since the 1980s, these policies in Arab countries have experienced significant reforms that sought to give them more flexibility and efficiency. This work proposes a study of the impact of monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies on economic activity of a group of Arab countries in that to estimate a growth function on these countries using the nonstationary panel data model. From the results found, it was possible to identify the impact of the economic policies on economic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PROTECTORATES, PETROLEUM product sales & prices, ECONOMIC recovery, and ARAB countries -- Economic conditions

The article offers the author's insights on the strategic implications of Arabs' reawakening, which is occurring across North Africa and West Asia. He says that the period of foreign protectorates in the regions have been gone and this leads to uncertainties on the future. He states that the short-term effects of these uncertainties include higher gas and oil prices, slower recovery from America's Great Recession, and accelerated transfer of global wealth to East and South Asia's rising powers.

ECONOMIC development, DISCOURSE analysis, and ARAB countries -- Economic conditions

The present paper is a corpus-based inquiry into the importance of vivification for producing a systematic and persuasive Arab economic discourse. Thus, this article examines how and why the economy is metaphorically conceptualized in modern Arabic as a Living Organism that can be said to 'grow', 'revive', etc. Having analyzed the frequency with which the various instantiations of this generic metaphor appear in Arab economic discourse, the paper goes on to discuss the value judgments that they convey. The analogy between a living organism and an economy is shown to induce very specific evaluations of such conditions as 'growing' or 'being revived'. Hence, vivification is demonstrated to play a vital role in providing Arab economic discourse with textual cohesion. Although this article argues for the universal bodily grounding of the Economy Is A Living Organism metaphor, it also shows this experiential basis to be subject to cultural interpretation. The analyses carried out here suggest that projecting such physical concepts as those of 'growth' or 'revival' onto the social domain of economics entails that they are interpreted in accordance with the particular social interests of a given community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ECONOMIC development research, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, ARAB countries -- Economic conditions, ECONOMIC opportunities, and POLITICAL systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the relationship between political freedom and economic prosperity. The paper sheds light on what makes economic growth and opportunities possible and how lack of political freedom obstructs economic growth. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the concept of freedom deficit in the context of the Arab world. The paper relies on recent debates on the state of economic ills in the region. Findings – Based on a survey of the current literature on the state of economic and political freedom in the Arab world, the paper demonstrates that only under conditions of free access to economic opportunities and personal freedom will people in the region be able to overcome their economic misery and move forward to participate in the global economy. Originality/value – The paper reflects on the state of the Arab world relative to other regions and makes a powerful argument that without allowing the people to utilize their potential and have unrestricted access to economic opportunities, the chances for the Arab world to economically join the rest of the world's progress are slim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INDUSTRIAL statistics, ARAB countries -- Economic conditions, and BIBLIOGRAPHY (Documentation)