IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00229518.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Uncertainty, Economic Reforms and Private Investment in the Middle East and North Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis

    (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne)

  • A. Aysan
  • G. Pang

Abstract

During the 1980s and the 1990s, private investment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has on average shown a decreasing or stagnant trend. This contrasts with the situation of the Asian economies, where private investment has always been more dynamic. In this paper, it is empirically shown for a panel of 39 developing economies--among which four MENA countries-- that in addition to the traditional determinants of investment--such as the growth anticipations and the real interest rate--government policies explain MENA's low investment rate. Insufficient structural reforms--which have most of the time led to poor financial development and deficient trade openness¬¬--have been a crucial factor for the deficit in private capital formation. The economic uncertainties of the region have represented another factor of the firm's decisions not to invest. These uncertainties have consisted of the external debt burden and various measures of volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis & A. Aysan & G. Pang, 2006. "Uncertainty, Economic Reforms and Private Investment in the Middle East and North Africa," Post-Print hal-00229518, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00229518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:econom:v:66:y:1999:i:262:p:157-79 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Shafik, Nemat & Shafik, Nemat, 1992. "Modeling private investment in Egypt," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 263-277, October.
    3. Isabel Argimon & Jose Gonzalez-Paramo & Jose Roldan, 1997. "Evidence of public spending crowding-out from a panel of OECD countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(8), pages 1001-1010.
    4. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    5. Ross Levine, 1997. "Financial Development and Economic Growth: Views and Agenda," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 688-726, June.
    6. Balassa, Bela, 1978. "Exports and economic growth : Further evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 181-189, June.
    7. David H. Romer & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1999. "Does Trade Cause Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 379-399, June.
    8. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    9. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    10. Amer Bisat & Mr. Mohamed A. El-Erian & Mr. Mahmoud El-Gamal & Mr. Francesco P Mongelli, 1996. "Investment and Growth in the Middle East and North Africa," IMF Working Papers 1996/124, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Caballero, Ricardo J. & Krishnamurthy, Arvind, 2001. "International and domestic collateral constraints in a model of emerging market crises," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 513-548, December.
    12. Khan, Mohsin S. & Reinhart, Carmen M., 1990. "Private investment and economic growth in developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 19-27, January.
    13. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    14. Feder, Gershon, 1983. "On exports and economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-2), pages 59-73.
    15. Jan Willem Gunning & Henk Kox & Wouter Tims & Ynto Wit (ed.), 1994. "Trade, Aid and Development," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-23169-0, March.
    16. Norman Loayza & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel & Luis Servén, 2000. "What Drives Private Saving Across the World?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 165-181, May.
    17. Schmidt-Hebbel, Klaus & Muller, Tobias, 1991. "Private investment under macroeconomic adjustment in Morocco," Policy Research Working Paper Series 787, The World Bank.
    18. World Bank, 2004. "Unlocking the Employment Potential in the Middle East and North Africa : Toward a New Social Contract," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15011.
    19. Aizenman, Joshua & Marion, Nancy P. & Marion, Nancy P., 1993. "Macroeconomic uncertainty and private investment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 207-210.
    20. Aymo Brunetti & Beatrice Weder, 1998. "Investment and institutional uncertainty: A comparative study of different uncertainty measures," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 134(3), pages 513-533, September.
    21. Serven, Luis & Solimano, Andres, 1992. "Private Investment and Macroeconomic Adjustment: A Survey," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 7(1), pages 95-114, January.
    22. Bleaney, Michael & Greenaway, David, 1993. "Adjustment to external imbalance and investment slumps in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 577-585, April.
    23. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Stanley Fischer, 1989. "Lectures on Macroeconomics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262022834, April.
    24. Balassa, Bela, 1988. "Public finance and economic development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 31, The World Bank.
    25. E. V. K. FitzGerald & Karel Jansen & Rob Vos, 1994. "External Constraints on Private Investment Decisions in Developing Countries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Jan Willem Gunning & Henk Kox & Wouter Tims & Ynto Wit (ed.), Trade, Aid and Development, chapter 11, pages 185-219, Palgrave Macmillan.
    26. Khan, Mohsin S & Kumar, Manmohan S, 1997. "Public and Private Investment and the Growth Process in Developing Countries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 59(1), pages 69-88, February.
    27. Nader Nazmi & Miguel D. Ramirez, 1997. "Public And Private Investment And Economic Growth In Mexico," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 15(1), pages 65-75, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kinda, Tidiane & Plane, Patrick & Veganzones-Varoudakis, Marie-Ange, 2009. "Firms'productive performance and the investment climate in developing economies : an application to MENA manufacturing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4869, The World Bank.
    2. Tidiane Kinda & Patrick Plane & Marie‐Ange Véganzonès‐Varoudakis, 2011. "Firm Productivity And Investment Climate In Developing Countries: How Does Middle East And North Africa Manufacturing Perform?," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 49(4), pages 429-462, December.
    3. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & …mer Faruk Baykal & Marie-Ange Véganzonès–Varoudakis, 2011. "The Effects of Convergence in Governance on Capital Accumulation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Countries," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur & David Sunderland (ed.), Does Economic Governance Matter?, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Tidiane Kinda & Patrick Plane & Marie-Ange Veganzones-Varoudakis, 2009. "Productivity and Investment Climate in Developing Countries: How Do MENA Industries Perform?," Working Papers 476, Economic Research Forum, revised Mar 2009.
    5. Tidiane KINDA & Patrick PLANE & Marie-Ange VEGANZONES-VAROUDAKIS, 2008. "Firm-Level Productivity and Technical Efficiency in MENA Manufacturing Industry: The Role of the Investment Climate," Working Papers 200819, CERDI.
    6. Ahmet Aysan & Marie-Ange Véganzonès –Varoudakis & Zeynep Ersoy, 2007. "What Types of Perceived Governance Indicators Matter the Most for Private Investment in Middle East and North Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 5(8), pages 1-16.
    7. Syed Muhammad All-E-Raza Rizvi & Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis, 2019. "Economic, social, and institutional determinants of domestic conflict in fragile States," Working Papers hal-02340977, HAL.
    8. Helder Ferreira de Mendonça & Ytallo Brito, 2021. "The link between public debt and investment: an empirical assessment from emerging markets," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(50), pages 5864-5876, October.
    9. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & Zeynep Ersoy & M-A Veganzones-Varoudakis, 2007. "Does the Perception of Governance Institutions Matter for Private Investment: The Case of Middle East and North Africa," Working Papers 2007/03, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    10. Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis & A. Aysan, 2007. "How Do Political and Governance Institutions Affect Private Investment Decisions? An Application to the Middle East and North Africa," Post-Print hal-00229728, HAL.
    11. Tamy Al-Binali & Ahmet Faruk Aysan & Hasan Dinçer & Ibrahim Musa Unal & Serhat Yüksel, 2023. "New Horizons in Bank Mergers: A Quantum Spherical Fuzzy Decision-Making Framework for Analyzing Islamic and Conventional Bank Mergers and Enhancing Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-37, May.
    12. Umair Kashif & Junguo Shi & Snovia Naseem & Muhammad Ayaz & Rehan Sohail Butt & Waris Ali Khan & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan, 2023. "Do agricultural commodity prices asymmetrically affect the performance of value-added agriculture? Evidence from Pakistan using a NARDL model," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Akçay Selçuk & Karasoy Alper, 2020. "Determinants of private investments in Turkey: Examining the role of democracy," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 20(1), pages 23-49, March.
    14. Kamel ABDELLAH & Dalila NICET-CHENAF & Eric ROUGIER, 2012. "FDI and macroeconomic volatility: A close-up on the source countries," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2012-21, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    15. Mustapha Kamel Nabli, 2007. "Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth : Better Governance and Deeper Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6914.
    16. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:8:y:2018:i:4:p:324-351 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Amber Fatima & Abdul Waheed, 2011. "Effects of Macroeconomic Uncertainty on Investment and Economic Growth: Evidence from Pakistan," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 18(1), pages 112-123, September.
    18. Dalila Nicet-Chenaf & Eric Rougier, 2014. "Source and host country volatility and FDI : A gravity analysis of European investment to Middle East and North Africa," Larefi Working Papers 1405, Larefi, Université Bordeaux 4.
    19. Kwamivi Mawuli Gomado, 2024. "Impact of uncertainty on economic growth: The role of pro‐market institutions in developing countries," Post-Print hal-04725308, HAL.
    20. Dalila NICET-CHENAF & Eric ROUGIER, 2014. "Output Volatility And Fdi To Middle East And North African Countries: A Close-Up On The Source Countries," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 40, pages 139-165.
    21. Bernard Njindan Iyke & Sin-Yu Ho, 2020. "The effects of transitory and permanent inflation uncertainty on investment in Ghana," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 195-217, February.
    22. Mustafa Kilinç & Zübeyir Kilinç & M. Ibrahim Turhan, 2012. "Resilience of the Turkish Economy During the Global Financial Crisis of 2008," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(S5), pages 19-34, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marie-Ange VEGANZONES-VAROUDAKIS & PANG & Ahmet Faruk AYSAN, 2006. "Assessing the Responsiveness of Private Investment to Economic Reforms: The Case of MENA Countries," Working Papers 200623, CERDI.
    2. Ahmet Faruk AYSAN & Mustapha Kamel NABLI & Marie‐Ange VÉGANZONÈS‐VAROUDAKIS, 2007. "Governance Institutions And Private Investment: An Application To The Middle East And North Africa," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 45(3), pages 339-377, September.
    3. Aysan, Ahmet Faruk & Nabli, Mustapha Kamel & Veganzones-Varoudakis, Marie-Ange, 2006. "Governance and private investment in the Middle East and North Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3934, The World Bank.
    4. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & …mer Faruk Baykal & Marie-Ange Véganzonès–Varoudakis, 2011. "The Effects of Convergence in Governance on Capital Accumulation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Countries," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur & David Sunderland (ed.), Does Economic Governance Matter?, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Dierk Herzer & Michael Grimm, 2012. "Does foreign aid increase private investment? Evidence from panel cointegration," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(20), pages 2537-2550, July.
    6. Cavallo, Eduardo & Daude, Christian, 2011. "Public investment in developing countries: A blessing or a curse?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 65-81, March.
    7. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & M-A Veganzones-Varoudakis, 2007. "How Do Political and Governance Institutions Affect Private Investment Decisions? An Application to the Middle East and North Africa," Working Papers 2007/05, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    8. Mustapha Kamel Nabli & Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis, 2007. "Reform complementarities and economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(1), pages 17-54.
    9. Stephen S. Everhart & Mariusz A. Sumlinski, 2001. "Trends in Private Investment in Developing Countries : Statistics for 1970-2000 and the Impact on Private Investment of Corruption and the Quality of Public Investment," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13989.
    10. Mustapha Kamel Nabli, 2007. "Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth : Better Governance and Deeper Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6914.
    11. Marie-Ange VEGANZONES-VAROUDAKIS, 2000. "Infrastructures, investissement et croissance : un bilan de dix années de recherches," Working Papers 200007, CERDI.
    12. Lutfi Erden & Randall G. Holcombe, 2006. "The Linkage Between Public and Private Investment: A Co-integration Analysis of a Panel of Developing Countries," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 479-492, Summer.
    13. Diego Martinez-Lopez, 2006. "Linking Public Investment to Private Investment. The Case of Spanish Regions," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 411-423.
    14. M. Ayhan Kose & Raymond Riezman, 2013. "Trade shocks and macroeconomic fluctuations in Africa," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Raymond Riezman (ed.), International Trade Agreements and Political Economy, chapter 19, pages 369-394, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Renelt, David, 1991. "Economic growth : a review of the theoretical and empirical literature," Policy Research Working Paper Series 678, The World Bank.
    16. Celal Kucuker, 2003. "Türkiye Ýktisat Kongresi Büyüme Stratejileri Çalýþma Grubu," Working Papers 2003/5, Turkish Economic Association.
    17. Hernán Rincón, 2007. "Financial Globalization, Economic Growth, and Macroeconomic Volatility," Borradores de Economia 430, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    18. Bouton, L. & Sumlinski, M.A., 2000. "Trends in Private Investment in Developing Countries. Statistics for 1970-1998," Papers 41, World Bank - International Finance Corporation.
    19. Miguel Ramirez, 2007. "A Panel Unit Root and Panel Cointegration Test of the Complementarity Hypothesis in the Mexican Case: 1960–2001," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 35(3), pages 343-356, September.
    20. Etro, Federico, 2017. "Research in economics and macroeconomics," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 373-383.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F40 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - General
    • E00 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - General
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00229518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.