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Local Employment Growth in the Coastal Area of Tunisia: A Dynamic Spatial Panel Approach

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  • Mohamed Amara

    (University of Tunis & Géographie-Cités, Tunisia)

  • Mohamed Ayadi

Abstract

Since the mid-1980s, Tunisia has conducted a structural adjustment program characterized by more privatization and economic opening. This transition has created unequal growth in the economic performance and the employment opportunities between coastal and interior regions (inland areas). The January 14th revolution has started as a reaction against unequal economical and employment opportunities. In this study, we seek to answer the following key question: why does employment grow in one region and not in other? We attempt to assess the impact of institutional factors and industrial structures on location choices of manufacturing activities, which crucially affects local employment growth. We focus on the interaction between agglomeration forces and government policies to analyze the local employment growth. Using panel data on five manufacturing sectors associated with 138 Tunisian coastal small localities along six years (2002-2007), we will give some empirical evidence on regional employment growth. We use a dynamic spatial panel data model in order to consider the spatial and temporal effects in the analysis of local employment growth. Our results show that high -tech industries spillovers have a range of 15 km against 50 km for low-tech industries. Agglomeration and education have positive effect on local manufacturing employment growth. Competition has a negative effect in the short term, but a positive one on the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohamed Amara & Mohamed Ayadi, 2011. "Local Employment Growth in the Coastal Area of Tunisia: A Dynamic Spatial Panel Approach," Working Papers 650, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Jan 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:650
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    Cited by:

    1. Mohamed Amara & Khaled Thabet, 2019. "Firm and regional factors of productivity: a multilevel analysis of Tunisian manufacturing," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(1), pages 25-51, August.
    2. Mohamed Amara, 2016. "The linkages between formal and informal employment growth in Tunisia: a spatial simultaneous equations approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(1), pages 203-227, January.
    3. Hatem Jemmali & Mohamed Amara, 2018. "On Measuring and Decomposing Inequality of Opportunity among Children: Evidence from Tunisia," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 137-155, March.
    4. Mohamed Ayadi & Wided Mattoussi, 2014. "Disentangling the Pattern of Geographic Concentration in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-072, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Mohamed Amara & Hatem Jemmali, 2018. "Household and Contextual Indicators of Poverty in Tunisia: A Multilevel Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 113-138, May.
    6. Mohamed Ayadi & Wided Matoussi, 2014. "Working Paper - 213 - Disentangling the Pattern of Geographic Concentration in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries," Working Paper Series 2149, African Development Bank.
    7. Amara Mohamed, 2014. "Gibrat's Law and peer group effect: the case of Tunisian small manufacturing companies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(1), pages 373-384.
    8. Mohamed Amara, 2019. "Firm Performance and Agglomeration Effects: Evidence from Tunisian Firm-level Data," Working Papers 1297, Economic Research Forum, revised 2019.
    9. Mohamed Amara & Wajih Khallouli & Faycel Zidi, 2018. "Gender Discrimination in the Tunisian Labor Market: The Youth Crisis," Working Papers 1263, Economic Research Forum, revised 07 Feb 2018.
    10. Ayadi, Mohamed & Mattoussi, Wided, 2014. "Disentangling the pattern of geographic concentration in Tunisian manufacturing industries," WIDER Working Paper Series 072, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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