Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries: Economic Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa

✍ Scribed by Khalid Sekkat (editor)

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 174
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

To what degree are trade liberalization, productivity, and economic growth correlated? Can economic policies designed to encourage competition and curtail industry protection result in large-scale improvements, such as increased innovation and reduced unemployment?

After 20 years of economic reform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), economic performance is still lagging behind many regions of the world. Even in those countries that are the most advanced in implementing reforms, including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, industries with low productivity growth and high market power continue to dominate. Moreover, the termination of the Multi-Fiber Agreement and the negotiations concerning further liberalization of trade in agricultural products (under the framework of the World Trade Organization) put these and other countries under pressure of fierce competition from emerging nations.

Recent empirical evidence on the impact of reforms in a number of developing countries shows that such persistence of inefficiency and market power is specific to MENA. Showcasing in-depth analyses from Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey (with comparative data from Asia and Latin America), this book focuses on the dynamics of firm entry and exit to help explain the low productivity of the region. The results suggest a number of policy recommendations designed to foster competition, which, in turn, would contribute to innovation, productivity growth, and improved return on capital investments. The book not only reveals important correlations among policy and market factors in MENA, but suggests fruitful areas of research in other developing regions of the world.

✦ Table of Contents

188897_1_En_BookFrontmatter_OnlinePDF.pdf
Anchor 1
188897_1_En_1_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf
Chapter 1
Reforms, Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Firms’ Entry and Exit: Determinants and Impacts
1.2.1 Determinants
1.2.1.1 Firm Determinants
1.2.1.2 Industry Determinants
1.2.1.3 Country Determinants
1.2.2 Entry, Exit and Economic Performance
1.3 Entry, Exit and Economic Performance in LDCs
1.3.1 Entry, Exit and Reforms
1.3.2 Entry, Exit and Economic Performance
1.4 Conclusion
1.5 Notes
References
188897_1_En_2_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf
Chapter 2
Exit–Entry Dynamics: Case of the Manufacturing Sector in Jordan
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Overview of the Jordanian Economy
2.3 Manufacturing Sector
2.3.1 Labor Force in SMEs in the Manufacturing Sector2
2.3.1.1 Employment in the Manufacturing Sector
2.3.1.2 Employment by Establishment Size
2.4 Entry Exit Dynamics
2.4.1 Methodology
2.5 Determinants of Entry and Exit in Jordan
2.5.1 Productivity Analysis
2.5.2 Analysis of Productivity Change
2.5.3 Productivity Change for Entrants, Survivors and Exitors
2.5.4 Econometric Analysis
2.5.4.1 Determinants of Growth
2.5.4.2 Analysis of Entry
2.5.4.3 Analysis of Exit
2.6 Conclusion
2.7 Notes
References
188897_1_En_3_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf
Chapter 3
Industrial Dynamics and Productivity in Morocco: A Quantitative Assessment
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Institutional Environment for Business
3.2.1 Overview
3.2.2 Corporate Regulations
3.2.3 Labor Market Regulations
3.2.4 Trade Policy and Regulations
3.2.5 Exchange Rate Policy
3.2.6 Competition Policy
3.3 Data and Descriptive Statistics
3.3.1 Data Source
3.3.2 Descriptive Analysis
3.3.2.1 Entry and Exit Rates
3.3.2.2 Process of Firms’ Exit
3.3.2.3 Entry and Exit Effects on Firms’ Size
3.4 The Determinants of Firm Entry and Exit
3.5 Entry, Exit and Productivity
3.5.1 Accounting Analysis
3.5.2 Econometric Analysis
3.6 Conclusion
3.7 Notes
References
188897_1_En_4_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf
Chapter 4
Entry, Exit, and Productivity in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Regulations, Upgrading Program and Business Environment in Tunisia
4.2.1 Tunisian Institutional Context
4.2.2 Tunisian Upgrading (Mise à Niveau) Program
4.2.3 Business Environment in Tunisia
4.2.3.1 Starting a Business
4.2.3.2 Hiring and Firing Rules
4.2.3.3 Credit Facilities
4.2.3.4 Enforcing Contracts
4.2.3.5 Closing a Business
4.3 Firm Demographics Data in Tunisia: Some Stylized Facts
4.3.1 Data Sources
4.3.2 Characteristics of Entry and Exit Process of Firms
4.4 Determinants of Entry and Exit
4.4.1 Theoretical Background
4.4.1.1 Entry, Exit, and Symmetry Hypothesis
4.4.1.2 Entry, Exit, and Simultaneity Hypothesis
4.4.2 Econometric Specifications and Results
4.5 Turnover, Economic Performance, and Productivity
4.5.1 Impact of Entry and Exit Rates on Economic Performance
4.5.2 Labor Productivity and Firm Turnovers
4.6 Conclusion
4.7 Notes
188897_1_En_5_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf
Chapter 5
Entry, Exit and Productivity in Turkish Manufacturing Industries
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Data and Descriptive Statistics
5.2.1 Descriptive Analysis
5.3 Determinants of Entry and Exit Rates in the Turkish Manufacturing Sector
5.3.1 Entry and Exit Models
5.3.2 Data and Estimation Method
5.3.3 Estimation Results
5.3.3.1 Entry Rate
5.3.3.2 Exit Rate
5.4 Entry, Exit and Productivity
5.4.1 Contribution to Productivity Growth
5.4.2 Impact of Exit and Entry Rates on the Productivity Growth of Survivors
5.5 Conclusion
5.6 Notes
References
188897_1_En_6_Chapter_OnlinePDF.pdf
Chapter 6
Economic Policies, Firms’ Entry and Exit and Economic Performance: A Cross Country Analysis
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Inter- and IntraIndustry Reallocation
6.2.1 InterIndustry Reallocation
6.2.1.1 Aggregate Level Analysis
6.2.1.2 Industry Level Analysis
6.2.2 InterIndustry Reallocation
6.2.2.1 Aggregate Level Analysis
6.2.2.2 Industry Level Analysis
6.2.2.3 Correlation Analysis
6.3 Determinants of Entry and Exit
6.4 Entry, Exit, and Productivity
6.5 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
6.6 Notes
6.7 Appendix A: Structure of the manufacturing sector in the 4 countries
6.8 Appendix B: World Bank’s indicators of the cost of doing business
References
188897_1_En_BookBackmatter_OnlinePDF.pdf