Trade Policy and Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa: Economic Boundaries in Flux

by Hakimian; Hassan

• ISBN13: 9780415360296
• ISBN10: 0415360293
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2005-06-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The recent globalization trends have revived a long-standing interest in regional integration in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Despite numerous attempts to encourage economic integration in MENA in the past few decades, there is broad consensus that progress has been painstakingly slow and the record of economic integration in the MENA region largely beset by failure. This book examines the impact of recent changes in the world economy on trade policy within the MENA region and its economic relations with the rest of the world. It considers regional integration and prospects for trade blocs; trade liberalization and economic restructuring; resource endowments and employment trends; and changes in economic boundaries, especially as a result of labour migration and regional conflicts.

Table of Contents

List of figures	viii
List of maps	x
List of tables	xi
List of contributors	xiv
Preface and acknowledgements	xvi
Introduction	1	(10)
HASSAN HAKIMIAN AND JEFFREY B. NUGENT
PART I Past trends and future prospects for growth in MENA	11	(28)
1 Reform and elusive growth in the Middle East - what happened in the 1990's?	13	(28)
DIPAK DASGUPTA, JENNIFER KELLER, AND T.G. SRINIVASAN
PART II Integration patterns, trade blocs, and regional policy	39	(60)
2 Intra-regional trade integration in the Middle East: past performance and future potential	41	(25)
RANIA S. MINIESY, JEFFREY B. NUGENT, AND TARIK M. YOUSEF
3 Exchange rate regime and competitiveness of manufactured exports: the case of MENA countries	66	(18)
MUSTAPHA KAMEL NABLI AND MARIE-ANGE VÉGANZONÈS-VAROUDAKIS
4 Agriculture and trade liberalization in the MENA region: dynamic impacts of future scenarios	84	(17)
ALI H. BAYAR, GHAZI BEN-AHMED, PAUL DE BOER, XINSHEN DIAO, AND A. ERINC YELDAN
PART III Trade and restructuring: lessons and outcomes	99	(64)
5 Restructuring and economic performance: the experience of the Tunisian economy	101	(18)
SOFIANE GHALI AND PIERRE MOHNEN
6 Price competition between Turkish and East Asian exports in the European Union market in the 1990's: an empirical investigation	119	(19)
ZELAL KOTAN AND SERDAR SAYAN
7 Trade strategies and industrial development in Iran: 1979-98	138	(27)
BEHROUZ HADY ZONOOZ
PART IV Resource endowments, factor markets, and employment issues	163	(42)
8 Trends in informal sector employment in the Middle East	165	(19)
JACQUES CHARMES
9 Agricultural intensification and female labour in farm production in north-western Syria	184	(21)
MALIKA ABDELALI-MARTINI, ELIZABETH BAILEY, GWYN E. JONES, AND PATRICIA GOLDEY
PART V Economic boundaries in flux	205	(86)
10 Defining boundaries: Kuwait's economic reconstruction, 1991-2001	207	(24)
KAREN PFEIFER
11 The redefinition of economic boundaries between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip	231	(23)
LEILA FARSAKH
12 Turkey after Helsinki: economic challenges	254	(17)
SÜBIDEY TOGAN
13 Economic foundation for peace? The case of trade policy in the Oslo Agreement	271	(20)
NU'MAN KANAFANI
Index	291