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Income Inequality in the Arab Region: Data and Measurement, Patterns and Trends

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  • Sami Bibi
  • Mustapha K. Nabli

Abstract

This paper provides a review of empirical knowledge about income inequality in the Arab region, focusing primarily on the issues of data and measurement, and the characterization of its patterns and trends. The review shows good progress in the availability of data and quality of measurement. However, the region remains far behind progress being achieved worldwide in terms of coverage and comparability across countries, improvements in quality and content of data, and, more importantly, accessibility of available micro-data to scholars. Within these data constraints and limitations, the available evidence shows moderately high levels of inequality in terms of household expenditure compared to other regions of the world. The patterns of inequality show quite significant variation across countries. One striking result is the weak time variability of the inequality indexes in most of the countries of the region. Alternative measures of welfare distribution such as of horizontal inequality, polarization or inequality of opportunity have been widely used worldwide to supplement the Lorentz-based inequality criteria, but such measures are very scarce in Arab countries. We finally offer suggestions for a research agenda to better our understanding about the nature and determinants of inequality in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Sami Bibi & Mustapha K. Nabli, 2009. "Income Inequality in the Arab Region: Data and Measurement, Patterns and Trends," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 275-314, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rmdjxx:v:1:y:2009:i:2:p:275-314
    DOI: 10.1142/S1793812009000139
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    Cited by:

    1. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in the Labor Market for Higher Education Graduates in Egypt and Jordan," International Economic Association Series, in: Ishac Diwan & Ahmed Galal (ed.), The Middle East Economies in Times of Transition, chapter 5, pages 159-185, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Nadia Belhaj Hassine, 2012. "Equality of Opportunity in Education in the Middle East and North Africa," Working Papers e07-33, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Mr. Mustapha K. Nabli & Mr. Rabah Arezki, 2012. "Natural Resources, Volatility, and Inclusive Growth: Perspectives From the Middle East and North Africa," IMF Working Papers 2012/111, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Bibi, Sami & Duclos, Jean-Yves & Verdier-Chouchane, Audrey, 2012. "Assessing absolute and relative pro-poor growth, with an application to selected African countries," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-43.
    5. Racha Ramadan & Vladimir Hlasny & Vito Intini, 2016. "Inequality Decomposition in the Arab Region: Application to Jordan, Egypt, Palestine and Tunisia," Working Papers 1016, Economic Research Forum, revised Jun 2016.
    6. Aleh Mazol, 2016. "Spatial wage inequality in Belarus," BEROC Working Paper Series 35, Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC).
    7. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Nadia Hassine & Ragui Assaad, 2014. "Equality of opportunity in educational achievement in the Middle East and North Africa," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(4), pages 489-515, December.
    8. Caroline Krafft & Elizabeth E. Davis, 2021. "The Arab inequality puzzle: the role of income sources in Egypt and Tunisia," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 1-26, January.
    9. Assaad, Ragui & Hendy, Rana & Salehi-Isfahani, Djavad, 2019. "Inequality of opportunity in educational attainment in the Middle East and North Africa: Evidence from household surveys," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 24-43.
    10. AfDB AfDB, . "The AfDB Group in North Africa 2014," Country Brochure, African Development Bank, number 2138.
    11. Assouad, Lydia, 2023. "Rethinking the Lebanese economic miracle: The extreme concentration of income and wealth in Lebanon, 2005–2014," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    12. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & John Roemer & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in Income and Consumption: the Middle East and North Africa Region in Comparative Perspective," Working Papers 1003, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    13. Hassine, Nadia Belhaj, 2015. "Economic Inequality in the Arab Region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 532-556.
    14. AfDB AfDB, . "ORNA - North Africa - Annual Report 2014," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 2139.
    15. Saidi Anis & Hamdaoui Mekki, 2021. "Level of Fairness and Justice in Labor Market: Evidence from Tunisia Post-Revolution," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1187-1214, September.
    16. Paul Makdissi & Myra Yazbeck, 2023. "Measuring the contribution of stratification and social class at birth to inequality of opportunity," Working Papers 2303E Classification- I31, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    17. Bassma Said Jellali, 2019. "Assessing Policy Effectiveness to Measure Inequality of Opportunity in Wellbeing and Education: Case of Tunisia," International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting, Online Academic Press, vol. 5(2), pages 65-77.
    18. Saidi Anis (a) , Hamdaoui Mekki (b) and Ochi Anis (b), 2021. "Inequality of Opportunity and Degree of Human Development: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 107-137, March.
    19. Anis Saidi & Mekki Hamdaoui & Wajdi Moussa, 2021. "Assessing Policy Effectiveness in Reducing Inequality of Opportunity in Access to Public Services and Education Among Tunisian Children," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 993-1018, September.
    20. Hatem Jemmali, 2017. "What Drive Regional Economic Inequalities in Tunisia? Evidence From Unconditional Quantile Decomposition Analysis," Working Papers 1159, Economic Research Forum, revised 11 2017.
    21. Krafft, Caroline & Alawode, Halimat, 2018. "Inequality of opportunity in higher education in the Middle East and North Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 234-244.
    22. Yosr Abid & Cathal O'Donoghue & Denisa Sologon, 2016. "Exploring the Determinants of Welfare Distribution in Tunisia and Egypt Using a Welfare Generation Model," Working Papers 1009, Economic Research Forum, revised Jun 2016.
    23. Hassine, Nadia Belhaj, 2014. "Economic inequality in the Arab region," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6911, The World Bank.
    24. Racha Ramadan & Vladimir Hlasny & Vito Intini, 2018. "Inter‐Group Expenditure Gaps In The Arab Region And Their Determinants: Application To Egypt, Jordan, Palestine And Tunisia," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(s1), pages 145-188, October.
    25. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & John Roemer & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in Income and Consumption in Egypt," Working Papers 1002, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.

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