IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/6911.html

Economic inequality in the Arab region

Author

Listed:
  • Hassine, Nadia Belhaj

Abstract

The paper uses harmonized household survey micro-data to assess the levels and determinants of economic inequality in 12 Arab countries. It focuses on the sources of rural-urban, as well as metropolitan-nonmetropolitan, inequalities and applies the unconditional quantile regression decomposition technique to analyze the welfare gaps across the entire distribution. The analysis finds moderate inequality levels, with the Gini coefficient for the distribution of household real per capita total expenditures ranging between 30.7 in Libya and 45 in Mauritania. Differences in households'endowments, such as demographic composition, human capital, and community characteristics, appear as the main sources of the urban-rural welfare gap. There is inequality between metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions in many countries, mainly because of differences in returns to households'characteristics and particularly returns to human capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassine, Nadia Belhaj, 2014. "Economic inequality in the Arab region," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6911, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6911
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2014/06/09/000158349_20140609130102/Rendered/PDF/WPS6911.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heba El Laithy & Khalid Abu-Ismail & Kamal Hamdan, 2008. "Poverty, Growth and Income Distribution in Lebanon," Research Report 13, International Policy Centre.
    2. Beegle, Kathleen & De Weerdt, Joachim & Friedman, Jed & Gibson, John, 2012. "Methods of household consumption measurement through surveys: Experimental results from Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 3-18.
    3. 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.
    4. Andrew G. Berg & Jonathan D. Ostry, 2017. "Inequality and Unsustainable Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 65(4), pages 792-815, November.
    5. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    6. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Leite, Phillippe G. & Litchfield, Julie A., 2008. "The Rise And Fall Of Brazilian Inequality: 1981–2004," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(S2), pages 199-230, September.
    7. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    8. Chris Elbers & Peter Lanjouw & Johan Mistiaen & Berk Özler, 2008. "Reinterpreting between-group inequality," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 6(3), pages 231-245, September.
    9. Jean Olson Lanjouw & Peter Lanjouw, 2001. "How to Compare Apples And Oranges: Poverty Measurement Based on Different Definitions of Consumption," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(1), pages 25-42, March.
    10. 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.
    11. Nadia Belhaj Hassine, 2012. "Inequality of Opportunity in Egypt," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 265-295.
    12. Mansour, Wael, 2012. "The patterns and determinants of household welfare growth in Jordan : 2002-2010," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6249, The World Bank.
    13. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Nadia Belhaj Hassine & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2012. "Inequality of Opportunity in Child Health in the Arab World and Turkey," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 1250006-121, January.
    14. Shahateet, Mohammed, 2006. "How Serious is Regional Economic Inequality in Jordan? Evidence from Two National Household Surveys," MPRA Paper 57118, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    16. Frederick Solt, 2009. "Standardizing the World Income Inequality Database," LIS Working papers 496, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    17. Luc Christiaensen & Peter Lanjouw & Jill Luoto & David Stifel, 2012. "Small area estimation-based prediction methods to track poverty: validation and applications," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(2), pages 267-297, June.
    18. Sami Bibi & Mustapha K. Nabli, 2009. "Income Inequality In The Arab Region: Data And Measurement, Patterns And Trends," Middle East Development Journal (MEDJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(02), pages 275-314.
    19. Angus Deaton & Salman Zaidi, 2002. "Guidelines for Constructing Consumption Aggregates for Welfare Analysis," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 14101, April.
    20. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Bruno Martorano, 2012. "Development Policies and Income Inequality in Selected Developing Regions, 1980–2010," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 210, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    21. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    22. Dustin Chambers & Alan Krause, 2010. "Is the relationship between inequality and growth affected by physical and human capital accumulation?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(2), pages 153-172, June.
    23. Frederick Solt, 2009. "Standardizing the World Income Inequality Database," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(2), pages 231-242, June.
    24. Sudhir Anand & Paul Segal, 2008. "What Do We Know about Global Income Inequality?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 57-94, March.
    25. Nguyen, Binh T. & Albrecht, James W. & Vroman, Susan B. & Westbrook, M. Daniel, 2007. "A quantile regression decomposition of urban-rural inequality in Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 466-490, July.
    26. Page, John, 2007. "Boom, bust, and the poor: Poverty dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa, 1970-1999," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 832-851, February.
    27. 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.
    28. José A. F. Machado & José Mata, 2005. "Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 445-465, May.
    29. Andrea Brandolini & Anthony B. Atkinson, 2001. "Promise and Pitfalls in the Use of "Secondary" Data-Sets: Income Inequality in OECD Countries As a Case Study," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 771-799, September.
    30. Kanbur, Ravi, 2013. "Economic Inequality and Economic Development: Lessons and Implications of Global Experiences for the Arab World," Working Papers 180077, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    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. 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.
    2. Vladimir Hlasny, 2017. "Different Faces of Inequality across Asia: Decomposition of Income Gaps across Demographic Groups," LIS Working papers 691, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Reham Rizk & Ronia Hawash, 2020. "Education Gap and Youth: A Growing Challenge in The MENA Region," Working Papers 1394, Economic Research Forum, revised 20 May 2020.
    4. Mohammad KHUSAINI & Setyo TRI WAHYUDI & Zamrud SISWA UTAMA, 2018. "Does Trade Openness And Fiscal Policy Affect Inequality And Economic Growth? A Study In Indonesia," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(2), pages 215-226, July.
    5. 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.

    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. Hassine, Nadia Belhaj, 2015. "Economic Inequality in the Arab Region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 532-556.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Facundo Alvaredo & Leonardo Gasparini, 2013. "Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0151, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    5. Amal Jmaii & Damien Rousselière & Christophe Daniel, 2017. "Semi†parametric Regression†based Decomposition Methods: Evidence from Regional Inequality in Tunisia," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 29(4), pages 660-673, December.
    6. 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.
    7. Vladimir Hlasny, 2017. "Different Faces of Inequality across Asia: Decomposition of Income Gaps across Demographic Groups," LIS Working papers 691, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    8. World Bank, 2015. "Tanzania Poverty Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 21871, The World Bank Group.
    9. Hatem Jemmali & Mohamed Amara, 2017. "On the Decomposition of Economic Inequality: A Methodology and an Application to Tunisia," Working Papers 1096, Economic Research Forum, revised 05 2017.
    10. Lahoti Rahul & Jayadev Arjun & Reddy Sanjay, 2016. "The Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP): An Overview," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 61-108, June.
    11. El Moctar LAGHLAL, 2018. "Decomposition of urban-rural inequality in Mauritania," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2587, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    12. Pallab Kumar Ghosh & Jae Yoon Lee, 2016. "Decomposition of Changes in Korean Wage Inequality, 1998–2007," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-28, March.
    13. Azam, Mehtabul, 2019. "Accounting for growing urban-rural welfare gaps in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 410-432.
    14. 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.
    15. Bazillier, Rémi & Héricourt, Jérôme & Ligonnière, Samuel, 2021. "Structure of income inequality and household leverage: Cross-country causal evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    16. 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.
    17. Essama-Nssah, B., 2012. "Identification of sources of variation in poverty outcomes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5954, The World Bank.
    18. Sergio Longobardi & Margherita Maria Pagliuca & Andrea Regoli, 2018. "Can problem-solving attitudes explain the gender gap in financial literacy? Evidence from Italian students’ data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1677-1705, July.
    19. Elina Tuominen, 2024. "Top-end inequality and growth: empirical exploration of nonlinearities and the time dimension," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(2), pages 311-331, June.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wbk:wbrwps:6911. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    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.