Research Papers

Author: Tahar Harkat & Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 84184, Posted January 24, 2018

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/84184/1/MPRA_paper_84184.pdf

Understanding Youth in Arab Countries

Author: Tahar Harkat & Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 84184, Posted January 10, 2018

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/83843/1/MPRA_paper_83843.pdf

The following contribution is a synthesis of many contributions (Driouchi & Harkat, 2017a; 2017b; 2017c; 2017d; 2017e; Harkat, Driouchi, and Achehboune, 2016a; 2016b; and Harkat and Driouchi, 2017) and aims at analyzing the situation of the youngest segments in Arab economies. Findings indicate that the values, and the way women is perceived as a player in the economy by older generations did not change. But with regard to work attribute, they have changed significantly. With regard to macroeconomic threats, they are perceived more by young individuals in non-GCC countries than young individuals in GCC countries. The remaining four sections indicate the impact of vocational and general education on macroeconomic and social variables, the status as well as the determinants of youth unemployment, the status and determinants of young individuals not in education, not in employment, and not in training (or NEETs), and the impact of the demographic dividend on the NEETs. Empirical results indicate that the situation and impact of the youth differs from each Arab economy to another.

Demographic Dividend & Economic Development in Easter and Central European Countries

Author: Tahar Harkat & Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 83481, Posted December 25, 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/83481/1/MPRA_paper_83481.pdf

The following paper discusses the occurrence of the demographic dividend in Eastern and Central European countries (ECE). The data used is extracted from the World Bank and provides with descriptive statistics in addition to empirical analyses of fertility and mortality rates, and the significant causal links between the change in the demographic composition and unemployment, economic development, expenditure, education, and female participation variables. This is throughout regression analysis process with robust standard error and Granger causality tests. Empirical findings indicate that both the fertility rates and mortality rates of infants have decreasing trends in these countries. Further analysis indicates that the demographic dividend already occurred in these countries and has ended except for Estonia, Hungary and Romania. The last part of the results indicates that the change of the demographic composition of the populations of ECE countries have causalities that differ from an economy to another.

Demographic Dividend & Economic Development in Arab Countries

Author: Tahar Harkat & Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 82880, Posted November 22, 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/82880/1/MPRA_paper_82880.pdf

The demographic dividend is the window of opportunity provided by changes in the age structure of a population. It occurs because of the decline of both fertility and mortality rates. Data from the World Bank are used for descriptive statistics, regression analyzes with and without robust standard-errors, in addition to performing Granger-Causality tests. The results indicate that estimated time trends for fertility and mortality are significantly decreasing for Arab countries. Findings also indicate that the demographic dividend has occurred in the recent decade in most of Arab countries except for Egypt. This paper shows also the causal links between the dependency ratio (change in the population age structure) and the working age population, unemployment, economic development, government and private expenditures on health and education, education, and female participation in education variables.

Youth Inclusion Policies and NEETs’ Targeting Requirements in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 80622, Posted August 5, 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/80622/1/MPRA_paper_80622.pdf

The current research analyzes the trend of the NEETs, or young individuals that are not in education, employment, or training, in the Arab economies, based on the estimated NEET data in the contribution of Driouchi and Harkat (2017). Evidence shows that the trends of the NEETs are increasing in 9 Arab economies, decreasing in Algeria and statistically not significant for the remaining countries. This is assumed to be related to the absence of policies, programs, and strategies that directly target this category of youth. The present contribution assesses also, the determinants of the NEETs using Granger Causality test. The link between this category of youth and variables such as education, macroeconomic, and governance is assessed. The empirical findings indicate that each of the Arab economies exhibits a unique model with specific factors leading to the changes of this segment of population. This provides supporting evidence of the surrounding environment of the NEETs, and gives incentives to policy makers for monitoring through targeted policies, the significant factors that enable this category of youth.

NEET Policies and Knowledge in Arab & East Central European Economies

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 80471, Posted July 29, 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/80471/1/MPRA_paper_80471.pdf

This research analyzes the policies related to those youth that are not in education, not in employment, and not in training (NEETs) in the Arab and the East Central European (ECE) countries. It attempts assessing the impacts of knowledge on policies related to NEETs. The empirical framework used is based on measures of knowledge such as the number of reports published by the European Training Foundation (ETF) for each country. The number of studies that relate to education, training, and to the labor markets represent the independent variables. Furthermore, this paper assumes that joining the European Union, as it is the case for ECE countries, benefits these economies through the available strategies and policies related to youth, mostly to the NEET category. Findings indicate that the more publications for a specific country, the more the NEETs decrease. Still, among the studied Arab countries, only Algeria and Morocco show this trend. For ECE countries, only Bulgaria and Slovak Republic benefit from joining the European Union (EU) by reducing the category of youth that are NEETs with the remaining countries having no statistically significant effects. These findings require that further knowledge is needed mainly in Arab countries even though Morocco and Algeria appear to behave differently. Such a knowledge is likely to induce more policies targeting the NEETs.

Counting the NEETs for Countries with no or less Data, Using Information on Unemployment of Youth Aged 15-24: The Case of Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 79330, Posted May 23, 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/79330/1/MPRA_paper_79330.pdf

The present paper focuses on the estimation of the NEET rate for countries that do have few or lack of data on this matter. Arab countries are selected for applying the empirical framework suggested for NEET data recovery. The attained results show that the outcomes from the framework adopted are not statistically and significantly different from the few data that exist already. These data can be used for monitoring and enriching economic and social policies targeting the inclusion of NEETs.

Determinants of NEETs, using Granger Causality Tests: Applications to ECE and Arab Economies

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 78099, Posted 3 April 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/78099/1/MPRA_paper_78099.pdf

The current paper aims at establishing the likely causality between NEETs and other economic, social and political variables in the countries of Central and East European economies (ECE) with a focus on the situation of Arab economies. A literature review on NEETs has allowed for finding the magnitude and extent of non-regular and vocation education besides non-employment among the youngest segments of the population. Granger causality tests are applied to the available data to establish the likelihood of the determinants of NEETs. The hypotheses for testing relate to the links between NEETs, education, employment, health, and governance variables. The findings show that there is causality between NEETs and other economic, social and governance indicators. The findings also indicate that NEETs do not have common traits as their determinants differ from a country to another. The NEETs have a unique model for each economy that causes or might be caused with one or a range of variables. These results emphasize that countries and especially Arab countries need to monitor NEETs and pursue analyzes that allow for the enhancement of their policy making processes using relevant and accurate information.

Granger Causality and the Factors underlying the Role of Younger Generations in Economic, Social and Political Changes in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 77218, Posted March 2, 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/77218/1/MPRA_paper_77218.pdf

This paper examines the causality between social, technological, and political variables with macroeconomic variables in 19 Arab countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine, and Yemen. It uses the Granger causality test to determine causal relationships using data between years 1962 and 2015. Empirical findings reveal unique causality profile for each of the Arab countries. Results also suggest the most important variables in the determination of the economic growth in Arab economies, separately. Variables related to the demography of the new generation, ICTs and use of social media appear to be playing important causal roles, in the sense of Granger tests. This implies that economic, future social and political decisions need to account for these findings and that policies need to be geared towards for further inclusion of the aspirations and expectations of the youth.

An Empirical Descriptive Analysis of the Factors underlying the Role of Younger Generations in Economic, Social & Political Changes in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 77216, Posted March 1, 2017

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/77216/1/MPRA_paper_77216.pdf

This is to provide empirical evidence on the likely roles of knowledge, social networks and Information Technologies (IT) besides governance in shaping the characteristics of the current generation of youth in comparison with the oldest ones. The framework of intergenerational mobility provides promising grounds for the empirical analysis. Series of hypotheses require empirical testing under the above framework. The data are mainly time series from international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Labor Organizations and United Nations. In addition, results from previous studies assessing educational mobility and income are used. Several statistical methods provide the grounds for the testing of the retained hypotheses. The attained results show that the effects of annual demographic growth is not established clearly for all Arab countries as most economies have had immobility in demographic population growth over the period 1960-2015 but the total population of youth in the current generation is higher than the population that prevailed for the older generation. The overall openness of the Arab economies besides their democratization measured by series of indices appear to have been stable over the period 1996-2015. Other results are related to social mobility in income, education attainment and to the unemployment trends. They all show with the progress in ICTs and the increasing reliability on social media, that the current generation has more features that are different from those of the oldest generation.

Generational Gap and Youth in Arab countries

Author: Tahar Harkat, Ahmed Driouchi & Amale Achehboune

MPRA Paper n° 75834, Posted December 27, 2016

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/75834/1/MPRA_paper_75834.pdf

The current research focuses on the analysis of attributes associated to generations in Arab countries. This is to disclose the existing differences and similarities within these existing generations and among a set of characteristics related to values, work attributes, and perception of macroeconomic threats. Findings reveal differences in the work attributes and similarities in values. With regards to the perception of macroeconomic threats, differences also exist between GCC and non-GCC countries. Current analyses investigate for the relationships between education, ICTs, unemployment, and political stability within Arab economies, and results indicate significant relationships between these variables and also a strong correlation between unemployment and the increase of political instability. The generational differences in Arab countries need to be monitored and enhanced in order to understand the different determinants of choices and preferences of Arab youth nowadays.

Time Series Analysis & Choices for General and Vocational Education in Arab Economies

Author: Tahar Harkat, Ahmed Driouchi & Amale Achehboune

MPRA Paper n° 74770, Posted October 27, 2016

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/74770/1/MPRA_paper_74770.pdf

The current research focuses on the analysis of the determinants of educational choices in Arab countries using time series. This is to reveal the likely model of choice between general and vocational training in these economies. The selected theoretical framework considers that educational choices are globally influenced by education and macroeconomic variables. These include unemployment, GDP growth, and GDP per capita. The empirical analysis is based on regression, time series analysis and causality tests as inspired by the above theoretical framework. The findings show different outcomes for each of the Arab countries as such revealed decisions depend globally on the macroeconomics and performance of education in each country. These economies show that vocational education accounts differently for the macroeconomic variables while few accounts but also differently, for the schooling performance. Even with these differences that are related to signs of the effects, the monitoring of vocational education versus general training in Arab countries needs to be pursued as this allows for a more balanced educational and employment systems.

The Gap between Educational & Social Intergenerational Mobility in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Alae Gamar

MPRA Paper n° 73998, Posted September 24, 2016

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/73998/1/MPRA_paper_73998.pdf

With a high rate of unemployment in most Arab countries, this paper investigates the relationship between social and educational mobility. World Bank databases on income and unemployment rates are used for the assessment of both types of mobility. The attained results show that Arab countries are facing large discrepancies between education trends and income mobility. Eastern and Central European countries, with similar economic trends, show also similar patterns of mobility. While the literature review reports the pervasive nature of such phenomenon, Arab countries need adequate policies to overcome the likely negative impacts from the low economic and high education mobility.

Knowledge Economy, Global Innovation Indices, Rents and Governance in Arab Economies

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 73507, Posted September 4, 2016

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/73507/1/MPRA_paper_73507.pdf

This paper sheds light on the relationship between knowledge, innovation, rents from natural resources and governance in world economies with focus on Arab countries. Two major analytical frameworks are used with the first based on the use of knowledge indicators while the second is on the Global Innovation index (2010-2016). Both models confirm the negative effects of rents and the positive roles of good governance, on knowledge and innovation. Arab countries appear to exhibit clearly these effects with higher emphasis on governance indicators. Also, Arab countries appear to exhibit a model that is statistically different from the one of all countries. This work complements that of Driouchi (2014a and 2014b) with the inclusion of the Global Innovation Index data 2010-2016.

Macroeconomic and School Variables to Reveal Country Choices of General and Vocational Education: A Cross-Country Analysis with focus on Arab Economies

Author: Ahmed Driouchi & Tahar Harkat

MPRA Paper n° 73455, Posted August 31, 2016

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/73455/1/MPRA_paper_73455.pdf

This research focuses on the analysis of the determinants of general and vocational educational choices in Arab economies with comparisons to other regions of the world. The selected framework considers educational choices as influenced by macroeconomic and education variables. The empirical investigation is based on regression analysis as inspired by the above model. Time series analysis is also used for Arab countries. The results indicate that education in the groups of countries analyzed is generally driven by unemployment, economic growth, and the schooling results. Arab countries do show that vocational educational accounts for the schooling performance, only. Comparisons with other groups indicate that Arab countries need to strengthen the links between general and professional education as this allows for a more balanced educational and employment systems, not accounting only for the performance of general education.

New Health Technologies and Health Workforce in Developing Economies

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 67775, Posted 9 November 2015

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/67775/

This paper focuses on the importance of human health resources in relation to current and future trends in health. It is based on syntheses of reports, publications and economic development processes related to the increasing needs for skilled human resources in health systems that are under both high demand but also under the requirements of new health technologies. A special emphasis is placed on developing countries where series of constraints could lead to limit the provision of access to health care under shortage of skilled labor. The human resources related risks at both levels of developed and developing economies are also discussed even though emergent and developed countries have generated new instruments to limit the negative effects of these constraints. Finally, if the expansion of access to new health technologies could be achieved within the world global health system framework, requirements of increasingly needed human resources and skills are shown.

Creation of Enterprises & Knowledge Economy in the Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 67366, Posted 20 October 2015

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/67366/

The limited business and enterprise creation in relation to the high unemployment of skilled labor are among the issues analyzed and discussed in this paper. The present paper shows clearly that shifts to the creation of more enterprises are the most important ways to enhance economic performance and market development through further access to the knowledge economy.

Hofstede Index and Knowledge Economy Imperfections in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 67365, Posted 20 October 2015

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/67365/

This paper looks at the imperfections in the knowledge economy in Arab countries. It uses series of data including the Hofstede index to show how these imperfections are translated into the measures of knowledge and development. The outputs from Arab countries are also compared to those from the Eastern European Economies. The outcomes do clearly indicate the existence of a gap between Arab and Eastern European Economies and underline that more efforts need to be devoted to the reduction of imperfections in Arab economies.

Threats to Skills of Unemployed Qualified Labor in Arab Economies

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 67361, Posted 20 October 2015

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/67361/

This paper focuses on skill loss from the unemployment of qualified labor in Arab economies. It aims at analyzing the prospects of unemployment of skilled labor in relation to the increasing gap between the supply of labor and the low levels of job creation. The obsolescence of the skills gained prior to job search, is discussed in relation to the length of unemployment. Descriptive statistical analysis of unemployment in addition to a discussion of skill obsolescence is pursued. Among the results, skill losses appear to be crucial under limited prospective policies. Some directions of economic and social policies that need strengthening are introduced.

North-South Cooperation in Medical Education and Research: The European Union and South Mediterranean Economies

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Amale Achehboune

MPRA Paper n° 67345, Posted 20 October 2015

Link to the paper: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/67345/

The objective of this paper is to show the need for further cooperation around medical education and research through the mobility of medical doctors. Three important implicit players are identified and include medical schools, public authorities and the business related to health-care. These players from North and South are assumed to engage in cooperation around medical education, medical research and health development. The triple helix approach and the support of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are the foundations of the model. The empirical part introduces the on-going international cooperative frameworks between the European Union and South Mediterranean countries and identifies possibilities of expansion. The paper shows how such as a framework could be expanded to generate further benefits with win-win outcomes to both Northern and Southern economies. The emphasis placed on the European Union and Arab countries provides further evidence for the pursuit and expansions of collaborations and dialogues on health and mobility of medical doctors.

Is there a Gatsby Curve for Educational Attainment in Arab Countries?

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Alae Gamar

MPRA Paper n° 63869, Posted 25 April 2015

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/63869

This is to assess intergenerational mobility and inequalities in educational attainment in Arab countries with the aim of finding out about the existence of a Gatsby curve for education. The existence of links between intergenerational mobility and inequalities provide useful insights to new inclusive economic policies. The paper uses descriptive and regression analyzes based on Barro and Lee data (2014) for the period 1950-2010. The attained results confirm the existence of a relationship between education mobility and inequality in educational attainment. This negative relationship between inequalities and intergenerational mobility in education attainment confirms the existence of Gatsby curve for education in Arab countries. This allows for new directions for further economic policies for reducing education inequalities and enhancing more access of new generations to knowledge, in Arab countries.

Labor Health Shortage and Future Prospects for the Medical Workforce in Morocco

Authors: Nada Zouag and Ahmed Driouchi and Amale Achehboune

MPRA Paper n° 63547, Posted 10 April 2015

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/63547

This paper looks at the current situation of health deficits and shortages in Morocco with a focus on the roles of medical education and prospects for the health workforce for the period 2010-2030. The attained results from both trend description and simulations of patterns show major shortages relative to the needs. The existence of these trends appeals for further cooperation in the areas of health care through emphasis on medical education and research. These outcomes appear to be promising for the pursuit of satisfying the needs of a growing population and demand for health care.

Entrepreneurship and its Link to Corruption: Assessment with the Most Recent World and Country-Group Data

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Alae Gamar

MPRA Paper n° 62271, Posted 20 February 2015

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/62271

Entrepreneurship is an important intangible asset of nations. The relatively recent progress in its measurement, mainly with the Global Entrepreneurship Development Index (GEDI), suggests that previous questions related to its determinants and mainly its relationship to corruption namely the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) be re-addressed. The objective of the present paper is to assess the links between GEDI and CPI using the most recent (2013-2014) published data on world countries included in the GEDI. The relationships are estimated overall countries included in the GEDI and over groups of countries in relation to geographical continents and other subgrouping of economies. The attained results show consistently the positive effect of corruption reduction on GEDI and thus the positive relationship between an intangible good that is entrepreneurship and an intangible bad that is corruption. These results confirm that the recent available data are supportive of anticorruption policies that are likely to favor the growth of entrepreneurial activities with promoting market development and hence ensuring the growth of both tangible and intangible components of the wealth of nations.

Revealing the Components of the Intangible Wealth for Morocco

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Amale Achehboune and Alae Gamar

MPRA Paper n° 60904, Posted 24 December 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/60904/

This paper attempts to reveal the intangible components of wealth that need to be considered for further economic and social policies in Morocco. This objective is achieved through selecting secondary time series data and international indices and regressing the residual intangible wealth as measured by the World Bank method, on different components that are likely to be tested as genuine wealth indicators for Morocco. The attained results are not different from those revealed in previous publications. Governance, Intellectual capital besides Safety and Peace in addition to some cultural features appears to be the main components of the intangible wealth in Morocco. They consequently constitute new directions for economic policy improvements.

Descriptive Analysis of Economic Diversification, Price and Revenue Dynamics in Oil and Energy in the Arab World

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Hajar El Alouani and Alae Gamar

MPRA Paper n° 59389, Posted 20 October 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/59389/

The present paper looks at the descriptive side of the economy of oil and energy in the Arab countries. It addresses the contours of these economies in relation to diversification and trading patterns and shows the limited diversification but high concentration of exports towards oil and gas in part of these countries. The paper addresses also the dynamic processes of gas and oil revenues with their time trends. It also attempts linking revenues to international oil prices before tackling the current status of renewable energy. The attained outcomes show clearly how non-oil exporters are exhibiting patterns that are different from the exporting countries of the Gulf. This latter set of economies is benefiting from oil price stability during the past recent years and ensuring thus, a stable revenue formation in comparison with other economies in the region. With regard to renewable energy, non-oil exporting countries are more active in the search of new energy alternatives.

Evidence and Prospects of Shortage and Mobility of Medical Doctors: A Literature Survey

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 59322, Posted 16 October 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/59322/

This paper focuses on the shortage in health workforce, its causes and its consequences. The implied mobility is also introduced. Series of issues are introduced to better capture the global prospects facing the health system. A literature review survey on the above dimensions is the main source of information used in this paper. The attained outcomes confirm the existing increasing current and future trends of shortage and mobility of the health workforce with emphasis on medical doctors. The expected consequences on developing countries are discussed in relation to the increasing demand for healthcare but also to the technological changes taking place at the level of the sector and in its environment.

Comparisons of Models of Green Economy Adoption by Arab Countries using the Environmental Performance Index

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Hajar El Alouani

MPRA Paper n° 58861, Posted 25 September 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/58861/

This paper aims at characterizing the main trends affecting the environmental and greening economy systems in Arab countries. This is tackled through the use of data based on Environmental Performance Index (EPI) with statistical analysis of its related indicators. Promising results are attained based on descriptive statistics, trend and regression analyzes besides comparison of oil and non-oil exporting countries. The attained results show that Arab countries express different patterns with regard to environmental performance and greening of their economies while statistically significant differences appear between oil and non-oil exporters.

Mobility of Students from Arab Countries and Internationalization of Higher Education with Application to Medical Studies

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Amale Achehboune

MPRA Paper n° 58858, Posted 25 September 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/58858/

This paper looks at the links between cultural variables, knowledge indices and Entrepreneurship in Arab countries. It uses the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and World Bank data to show how these variables are connected. The outputs from Arab countries are also compared to those from the Eastern European economies. The outcomes do clearly indicate the existence of links between cultural dimensions, access to knowledge and enterprise creation with of a gap between Arab and Eastern European Economies.

The results show also that entrepreneurship is linked to cultural variables in Arab countries. This implies that further economic and social policies are needed to ensure the promotion of the culture of the knowledge economy and entrepreneurship in Arab countries.

Economics of Migration of Students from the Arab Region to OECD countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 58830, Posted 25 September 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/58830

Economic studies on migration of skilled labor are mainly related to those trained in the country of origin but are increasingly including students trained abroad that return or not to their home countries. There are incentives and constraints that are provided by both origin and destination countries but the living conditions and the expected relative wages appear to be the most important sources of attraction of students to migrate. The restrictions of access to some schools such as those of medical sciences and architecture could be also driving further migration. The internationalization of the education system and the delocalization of universities in relation to globalization and trade in services are also encouraging these movements. These directions are likely to be expanded under the high levels of unemployment and the expected low local wages. This paper expands early models of skilled labor migration to account for students. Empirical investigations based on Arab countries are pursued. They show clearly the importance of this movement and its determination mainly by the differences in relative expected wages and the anticipated living conditions.

Hofstede's Cultural Indicators, Knowledge Economy and Entrepreneurship in Arab Countries

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Alae Gamar

MPRA Paper n° 58731, Posted 20 September 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/58731/

Testing of Natural Resources as Blessing or Curse to the Knowledge Economy in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 58598, Posted 17 September 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/58598/

This paper focuses on testing if natural resources constituted a blessing or a curse to the progress of knowledge economy in Arab countries. Some of these economies are based on natural resources and mainly oil and gas that are major sources of economic rents. The attained results from all the sample of Arab countries show how knowledge variables are negatively related to the rents from natural resources. Natural resources appear thus as a curse to the expansion of knowledge economy in the overall set of countries. But, when taken country by country as in the literature, natural resources as blessing are shown over some economies. Transformation of curse to sustainable blessings is the promising economic and social direction of change that could increase further inclusive growth in the Arab economies.

Higher Education and Inclusion of Women in Labor Markets

Authors: Alae Gamar and Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 58072, Posted 22 August 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/58072/

This paper focuses on the inclusion of women in the Moroccan labor markets and businesses through the role of higher education. The paper is based on a descriptive analysis of enrollment in the tertiary education, graduation, business creation, employment and school attainment over the period 1990-2012. This research investigates also the dynamic processes pursued by each variable in relation to gender. It then analyzes the relationships between education and the inclusion of women in the labor markets and businesses. The attained results show that higher education has a statistically significant positive influence on the inclusion of women in the labor market and in business creation. Schooling of women with higher education attainment is an important instrument to be promoted for further inclusion of women in the economy of Morocco.

Determinants of Software Piracy under Risk Aversion: A Model with Empirical Evidence

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Mingzhu Wang and Tarik Driouchi

European Journal of Information Systems (Palgrave Journals), Posted 17 June 2014

Link to the paper:doi:10.1057/ejis.2014.14

This paper studies the determinants of software piracy in world economies from a risk avoidance perspective. A risk aversion model for the commercialization of pirated software is developed to account for behavioral elements of risk and uncertainty avoidance among countries’ software pirates (i.e., counterfeiters and suppliers) and test empirically for the effects of country characteristics on piracy levels. Panel regression analysis is conducted to identify the determinants of software piracy using this model on a data set of 87 countries during 2007–2011. The empirical results confirm those obtained in prior research (e.g., the inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP per capita and piracy rates) but divulge that the behavioral-country component capturing the attitudes towards risk of software pirates improves the explanatory power of the statistical regressions after controlling for country performance and institutional factors. We also show that human development and good country governance reduce piracy rates. Besides providing support for our risk aversion-based piracy model and hinting at the need to consider population behavior in policy-making, these findings underline the relevance of human development and country institutions in explaining software piracy rates.

Unemployment Persistence & Risks of Skill Obsolescence in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 53793, Posted 19 February 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/53793/

This paper shows how unemployment has been persisting during the last years with the implied risks of knowledge obsolescence and other economic and social implications. Under the absence of actions that are likely to reduce the effects of knowledge obsolescence, Arab economies with high unemployment rates loose in terms of competitiveness and efficiency but also in the development of knowledge economy. Special training programs besides more business oriented educational sessions are likely to minimize the impacts of knowledge obsolescence. Descriptive statistics as well as regressions analyzes are used to show most of the dimensions of the unemployment problem in Arab economies.

School Attainment and Knowledge in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 53773, Posted 19 February 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/53773/

This paper deals with school attainment in the Arab economies. It is based on descriptive statistical analyses on Barro and Lee data for the period 1950-2010. The opportunities lost with the low level of school attainment and the corresponding time trends in Arab countries are discussed. The relatively slow speed of recovery in schooling could already be expressed by the lowest knowledge performances achieved by the economies of North Africa, Sudan and Yemen.

School Attainment and Knowledge in Arab Countries

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 53773, Posted 19 February 2014

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/53773/

Education Attainment, Further Female Participation & Feminization of Labor Markets in Arab Countries

Authors: Fatima-Zohra Filali Adib, Ahmed Driouchi and Amale Achehboune

MPRA Paper n° 48516, Posted 23 July 2013

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/48516/

The feminization of labor markets through the role of education is among the means that enhances the participation of women to development and ensures further involvement of human resources in the growth and development processes. While this is a process that is highly pursued in most developed economies, it is not clearly seen to be pervasive in most developing countries. The Arab economies are among those countries where lower participation of women is observed but where education is an important driver for further feminization of labor markets. These issues are discussed in the present chapter to underline the role of education in Arab economies in expanding further participation of human resources to local labor markets in these economies.

High Implicit Interest Rates in the Context of Informal Traditional Housing Transactions: Evidence from Morocco

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Amat Mertou

MPRA Paper n° 38732, Posted 11 May 2012

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/38732/

The objective of this research is to investigate the situation of the poor in Morocco through assessing the implicit charges of informal housing transactions in different cities. A model allowing the calculation of the implicit interest rate from the traditional-mortgage transactions is applied. Data about traditional-mortgage housing transactions, duration, and rental values are collected from a sample of households in different cities. The results reveal that these transactions are costly although they involve small amounts of money. On average, a rate higher than 6% but lower than 50 % is implicitly implied in traditional-mortgage transactions. The overall results confirm that poor households are implicitly charged higher interest rates in their housing transactions in comparison with the explicit rates charged by formal credit markets, including microfinance. This implies that administrative and economic policies are to be further developed to ensure that poor households can easily access formal credit markets.

Enterprise creation & anti-commons in developing economies: evidence from World Bank Doing Business data

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Karim Malki

MPRA Paper n° 32373, Posted 22 July 2011

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/32373/

The objective of this paper is to show that universities can be engines for local development in Southern economies. Previous contributions to the literature on this subject have already shown the positive effects of regional sources of tacit knowledge on local development. Using data on developed, developing and emerging countries, regression analysis is pursued with the available data. The attained results show that developing economies do have room for local development as this can be further provided by regional universities and schools. These potential gains have been expressed to be higher for developing and emerging countries. These results imply that developing and emerging countries can enhance their local and overall development through the promotion of local universities and schools but these sources of skills and knowledge need to be tied with the local needs of the population as in developed countries. The case of Morocco illustrates the potential and positive effects of regional universities on local development. The transmission channel includes encouragement of skills, access to patents and intellectual property rights protection besides enterprise creation and implementation. These trends are likely to be accelerated within the regionalization process and the role of regional knowledge centers.

How zero price affects demand? Experimental evidence from the Moroccan Telecommunication Market

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Youssef Chetioui and Meryem Baddou

MPRA Paper n° 32352, Posted 20 July 2011

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/32352/

To select one of several products (or to buy nothing) is a daily decision. Its foundations vary from one person to another and are based on perceptions, preferences, and other criteria. The standard theoretical perspective conveys that people choose options with the highest net benefit. However, the zero price model, proposed by Shampanier, Mazar, and Ariely (SMA) (2007), suggests that decisions about free (zero price) products do not simply subtract costs from benefits but instead perceive other gains and costs associated with free products. This paper tests this second alternative by contrasting demand for telecommunication products in Morocco, mainly SMS and calls. The price difference is maintained between the cheaper and expensive options such that the cheaper product is priced at either a low positive price (cost condition) or zero price (free condition). The results suggest that more participants choose the cheaper option, whereas fewer participants choose the more expensive one. People act as if zero pricing is a special price, as suggested by the zero price models. The paper tests also the affect as an explanation to the zero price effect. The result suggests that the price effect cannot be fully attributed to this dimension.

Local Universities as Engines for Innovation and Regional Development in Southern Economies with Reference to Morocco

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Nada Zouag

MPRA Paper n° 30705, Posted 5 May 2011

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/30705/

Transforming Uncertainties into Risks and Poverty Alleviation: Lessons Learnt from the Successful Rescuing of Miners in Chile

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Karim Malki

MPRA Paper n° 30486, Posted 27 April 2011

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/30486/

The objective of this paper is to suggest how the Chilean model used to rescue the 33 miners trapped underground, can be used to accelerate the development of new means for poverty alleviation mainly in developing economies. For that, the Chilean model is described and analyzed within the framework of uncertainty and risk with emphasis on the success of all operations, under time constraints. The attained results underline that this “point in time” process can be used to extract poor individuals and households and sustain their inclusion in normal economic and social activities. But, this is conditioned on the development of further participative research-actions, innovations and monitoring processes applied to multiple small scales, well localized and targeted poverty alleviation projects.

Failure of Participation & “Missing Women” in South Mediterranean Economies

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

MPRA Paper n° 27243, Posted 27 April 2011

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/27243/

This paper aims at showing that women are “missing” because also of their limited participation in development. It also intends to show that market mechanisms as well as limited alternative institutions are among the factors that negatively affect access to health, to education and to economic opportunities. The emphasis is placed on South Mediterranean countries. The results attained and the evidence mobilized consistently show the interdependencies of health, education and poverty and the potential gains that can be transversally achieved with the promotion of the roles of women and children.

Emigration of Skilled Labor under Risk Aversion: The Case of Medical Doctors from Middle Eastern and North African Economies

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Molk Kadiri

MPRA Paper n° 22810, Posted 21 May 2010

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/22810/

This is a contribution to the new economics of skilled labor emigration that focuses on the mobility of medical doctors from sending Middle East and North African countries. Economic models under risk neutrality and aversion are used. The findings show that the relative expected benefits and the emigration rate have major effects on the net relative human medical capital that remains in the source country. The effects of relative wages in the destination and sending countries besides the yield of education are likely to change the emigration patterns. Comparisons of theoretical and observed relative human capital per country averages are conducted and ensured the statistical validity of the model. The empirical results based on the available data by Docquier and Marfouk (2006 and 2008) and Bhargava, Docquier and Moullan (2010) allowed further use of the model to understand the current trends in the emigration of medical doctors. These trends confirm the magnitude of relative wages besides the level of education and the attitude toward risk as determinants of the emigration of skilled labor. The countries included in the study are all exhibiting brain gain under 1991-2004 emigration data but two distinct groups of countries are identified. Each country is encouraged to anticipate the likely effects of this emigration on the economy with the increase of health demand, the domestic wages and the increase in education capacity for medical doctors.

Interrelations between Education, Health, Income and Economic Development in Europe with Emphasis on New Members of European Union

Authors: Cristina Boboc, Ahmed Driouchi and Emilia Titan

MPRA Paper n° 22235, Posted 25 April 2010

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/22235/

This study looks at how health, education, and economic development are inter-related in the case of Europe. Factorial analyses besides econometric models, implemented on a panel data from EUROSTAT show that the included variables are interrelated. The new members of the European Union are found to be investing in education, research and development and health care. Furthermore, they have high economic growth and high improvements in education and health state indicators. However, the instability and economic risks that have appeared during the transition process do affect the level of social protection. The existing social protection system increases poverty rates and slows the convergence towards developed economies. Two main directions for enhancing human development in EU new member economies are identified. They include the strengthening of the social protection system to target the vulnerable members affected by the transition process besides increasing expenditure on research and development.

Internal Mobility and Likelihood of Skill Losses in Localities of Emigration: Theory and Preliminary Empirical Application to Some Developing Economies

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Nada Zouag

MPRA Paper n° 21799, Posted 3 April 2010

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21799/

An economic model is introduced to discuss the impacts of rural migration on skills in source and destination localities and regions. Two versions of the model are used without and with risks. In this context, the model considers that rural migration is determined by the demand for education and urban rural wage differences. The optimal decision rules attained are tested against available aggregate data for series of developing countries. The preliminary empirical results show the existence of country variations of rural emigration with varied impacts on education with likely losses in localities of emigration. Economic and social policies are to account for these impacts mainly when emphasis is placed on regional and local development programs.

Introduction to Intellectual Property Rights, Software Protection & Development in the South Mediterranean Countries

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Nada Zouag

MPRA Paper n° 21650, Posted 29 March 2010

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21650/

This paper looks at the role of intellectual property rights in development in the context of South Mediterranean countries. A special focus is placed on software piracy data and analysis to assess the current losses implied by the practices of non-compliance with IPRs. Descriptive and regression analyzes are used to show the links between piracy, economic losses and development. The results show how the strengthening of domestic institutions may not mean only applying “the law” and pursuing legally the non-compliance. But it means the inclusion of the all players into the process of development. Further research and development besides optimal IPR protection appear to be necessary. The inclusion of the informal sector is then an important part of this enterprise. This requires policies of formalization besides mobilization of knowledge and intellectual property rights among the informal producers and traders.

Digital Rights Management, Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Economic development: The case of digital piracy in the South Mediterranean Countries

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Molk Kadiri and Moulay Abdelaziz Alaoui Belghiti

MPRA Paper n° 21609, Posted 24 March 2010

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21609/

The potential benefits that could be gained from information technologies in South Mediterranean economies are constrained by both DRM and institutional protection related to Intellectual Property Rights. But, pervasive piracy can appear to be a major obstacle to access these benefits. This paper through a simplified theoretical decision model attempts to suggest foundations to reveal levels of protection rates. This is followed by an empirical assessment of the likely effects of different macroeconomic variables in the context of selected South Mediterranean countries using software piracy data and the protection rates derived from the above model. This is intended to reveal the most important variables that drive software protection. The results attained show how protection should be strengthened through further investments in knowledge and through openness to foreign direct investments that lead to superior economic outcomes.

Emigration of Highly Skilled Labor: Determinants & Impacts

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Cristina Boboc and Nada Zouag

MPRA Paper n° 21567, Posted 24 March 2010

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21567/

This is an additional contribution to the large body of literature developed in the area of economics of skilled labor migration. It focuses on two major objectives that are the determinants of the migration and its likely impacts on developing economies. Within the framework of the new economics of skilled labor migration, this research has attempted to test empirically the relevance of some components of the most recent new economic models of skilled labor migration. Using available data from international organizations (World Bank, OECD, UNESCO…) and others, in both regressions analyzes and economic simulations, hypotheses have been tested and directions of empirical results identified for larger policy discussions. The theoretical models that have been given priority in these empirical investigations are mainly those of Beine & al, Stark (2005) & al, N. Duc Thanh (2004) and M. Schiff (2005). A major focus has been placed on the models suggested by Duc Thanh (2004) where useful specifications of the functional forms were made. This selected framework uses the similarities that have been observed between this model and that of Stark and Schiff.

The empirical results that have been obtained confirm the role of relative wages, the availability of better opportunities such as jobs, the importance of the living conditions as well as the existence of more attractive working conditions in destination countries relative to source economies. Concerning the estimation of the impacts of skilled labor migrations for both developed and developing economies, the specifications have followed Beine, Stark and Duc Thanh models with special emphasis placed on this latter. Given the dynamic nature of Beine’s model and with the limits on the available time series, significant empirical results are obtained and tests of Beine’s propositions achieved. The regressions results using the subcomponent of the knowledge economic index have shown significantly the effects of both domestic education and the attractiveness of foreign relative wages as major determinants that support the explanation of the level of knowledge added by the tertiary sector in each economy. In the sense of these estimations, it appears clearly that any economy is under two major opposite effects. On one hand, there is the relative share of investment in education that affects positively the human capital formation in any country but with higher impact in developing economies. On the other hand, there is the magnitude of the relative wages that negatively affect the performance of developing economies as measured by the subcomponent of the knowledge economic index. These results have been first confirmed through regression analysis.

These preliminary findings suggest that local, national, regional and international economic policies consider the new theoretical and empirical trends shown so far by these results.

Interdependencies of Health, Education & Poverty in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey Using Demographic and Health Survey

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi and Ahmed Baijou

MPRA Paper n° 21409, Posted 18 March 2010

Link to the paper: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21409/

The interdependencies of health, education and poverty that are common knowledge to individuals are also present at the aggregate levels of countries and internationally. The assessment of these interdependencies is the central task of this research but based on the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) of Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. The results attained through dependency tests and probit models, confirm the existence of major interdependencies at the levels of households. These findings support the need for accelerating and developing further integrated and transversal economic and social policies.

Interdependencies of Health, Education and Poverty: The Case of South Mediterranean Economies

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Cristina Boboc and Nada Zouag

Estudios de Economía Aplicada, Posted 2009

Link to the paper: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lrk:eeaart:27_2_10

This study is devoted to assessing the interdependencies between health, education and wealth at the aggregate regional level of South Mediterranean Countries (SMC) for the purpose of strengthening transversal economic and social policies. It looks first, to the major contributions of the previous literature developed on this subject. Theoretical and empirical studies at micro and macroeconomic levels prove that there are causal relations between variables related to health, education and wealth. As long as only partial and limited evidence exists on these interdependencies for the SMC, the second part is an empirical analysis based on World Bank, United Nations and on composite international indices. The results show that large interdependencies appear to be consistently exhibited by the data. Also, in the Granger sense of causality, health and education have been revealed to have important effects in leading these economies. The results attained are likely contributions for the enhancement of the economic and social policies to strengthen human development in the region.

Variety of Cultural Values and the Role of Education & Research for the Improvement of Intercultural Dialogues

Authors: Thierry Baudassé and Ahmed Driouchi

RePEc IDEAS Paper n° 1742, Posted 2007

Link to the paper: http://data.leo-univ-orleans.fr/media/search-works/1742/WP_2536.pdf

The current study is an additional contribution to finding better ways for sustaining superior outcomes for the migrants and for both source and destination countries through education and research. Education and research with their related policies are considered to be among the most important tools and means for strengthening the intercultural dialogue and creating better grounds for ensuring symmetric understanding among different cultural groups and countries. The paper is composed of two parts. While the first part deals with the issue of heterogeneity of cultural values owned by individuals, groups and countries, the second part focuses on the roles of education and research policies in sustaining intercultural dialogues with higher outcomes to migrants and to countries in North and South.

New Economics of Brain Drain and Risk Aversion: Theory and Empirical Evidence

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, Thierry Baudasse, Cristina Boboc and Nada Zouag

RePEc IDEAS Paper n° 1269, Posted 2007

Link to the paper: http://data.leo-univ-orleans.fr/media/search-works/1269/WP_2525.pdf

This is a contribution to the new economics of brain drain with emphasis on the impacts of skilled emigration on developing economies origins of departure of skilled labor. A risk aversion model is developed and used to test empirically the theoretical results attained. The findings appear similar to those suggested by other authors but additional results are induced by the introduction of risk aversion. The impacts on human capital in the source country can be gains under some circumstances but losses in other cases. The new important finding is that the amplitude of gains when they exist is lower than that predicted by models of risk neutrality. A developing country can consequently enhance its benefits through further monitoring its education and knowledge bases besides its emigration and cooperation policies.

Morocco, a Global Guide to Management Education 2006

Author: Ahmed Driouchi

Posted August 2006

Link to the paper: Please Contact the Institute

The system of education in Morocco is composed of pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education. This overview introduces the main characteristics of different components of the educational system in Morocco with a specific emphasis on tertiary education and especially training in business and management.

An Econometric Analysis of the Role of Knowledge in Economic Performance

Authors: Ahmed Driouchi, El Mustapha Azelmad and Gary C. Anders

The Journal of Technology Transfer (Springer), Posted 20 March 2006

Link to the paper: Volume 31, Issue 2, pp 241-255, doi: 10.1007/s10961-005-6109-9

We conduct a regression analysis of the effects of knowledge on aggregate economic performance using data from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank for four groups of countries during 1995–2001. Our results indicate that knowledge is a key driver of economic growth for each group of countries. More importantly, we find that variation in economic performance among these groups may be related to the timing of investment in education, R&D, and information technology, as well as economic policies that affect trade and foreign direct investment.