Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa

This report shows that in MENA, policies that lower competition and create an unleveled playing field abound and constrain private sector job creation. These policies take different forms across countries and sectors but share several common features: they limit free-entry in the domestic market, ex...

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Main Authors:	Schiffbauer, Marc, Sy, Abdoulaye, Hussain, Sahar, Sahnoun, Hania, Keefer, Philip
Format:	Publication
Language:	en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2014
Subjects:	capture competition connections growth jobs patronage policy privileges productivity trade unemployment
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20591

id	okr-10986-20591
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-205912021-04-23T14:03:56Z Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa Schiffbauer, Marc Sy, Abdoulaye Hussain, Sahar Sahnoun, Hania Keefer, Philip capture competition connections growth jobs patronage policy privileges productivity trade unemployment This report shows that in MENA, policies that lower competition and create an unleveled playing field abound and constrain private sector job creation. These policies take different forms across countries and sectors but share several common features: they limit free-entry in the domestic market, exclude certain firms from government programs, increase regulatory burden and uncertainty on non-privileged firms, insulate certain firms and sectors from foreign competition, and create incentives that discourage domestic firms from competing in international markets. The report shows that such policies are often captured by a few privileged firms with deep political connections, and that these policies persist despite their apparent cost to society. The millions of workers, consumers, and the majority of entrepreneurs who bear the brunt of that cost are often unaware of the adverse impact of these policies on the jobs and economic opportunities to which they aspire. This limits the scope for internal country debate and curtails the policy dialogue necessary for reform. Thus, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries face a critical choice in their quest for higher private sector growth and more jobs: promote competition, equal opportunities for all entrepreneurs and dismantle existing privileges to specific firms or risk perpetuating the current equilibrium of low job creation. 2014-11-20T16:03:49Z 2014-11-20T16:03:49Z 2015 978-1-4648-0405-2 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20591 en_US MENA Development Report; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research :: Publication Middle East and North Africa North Africa Middle East Turkey
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	capture competition connections growth jobs patronage policy privileges productivity trade unemployment
spellingShingle	capture competition connections growth jobs patronage policy privileges productivity trade unemployment Schiffbauer, Marc Sy, Abdoulaye Hussain, Sahar Sahnoun, Hania Keefer, Philip Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa
geographic_facet	Middle East and North Africa North Africa Middle East Turkey
relation	MENA Development Report;
description	This report shows that in MENA, policies that lower competition and create an unleveled playing field abound and constrain private sector job creation. These policies take different forms across countries and sectors but share several common features: they limit free-entry in the domestic market, exclude certain firms from government programs, increase regulatory burden and uncertainty on non-privileged firms, insulate certain firms and sectors from foreign competition, and create incentives that discourage domestic firms from competing in international markets. The report shows that such policies are often captured by a few privileged firms with deep political connections, and that these policies persist despite their apparent cost to society. The millions of workers, consumers, and the majority of entrepreneurs who bear the brunt of that cost are often unaware of the adverse impact of these policies on the jobs and economic opportunities to which they aspire. This limits the scope for internal country debate and curtails the policy dialogue necessary for reform. Thus, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries face a critical choice in their quest for higher private sector growth and more jobs: promote competition, equal opportunities for all entrepreneurs and dismantle existing privileges to specific firms or risk perpetuating the current equilibrium of low job creation.
format	Publications & Research :: Publication
author	Schiffbauer, Marc Sy, Abdoulaye Hussain, Sahar Sahnoun, Hania Keefer, Philip
author_facet	Schiffbauer, Marc Sy, Abdoulaye Hussain, Sahar Sahnoun, Hania Keefer, Philip
author_sort	Schiffbauer, Marc
title	Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa
title_short	Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa
title_full	Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa
title_fullStr	Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa
title_sort	jobs or privileges : unleashing the employment potential of the middle east and north africa
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2014
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20591
_version_	1764445818277855232

Jobs or Privileges : Unleashing the Employment Potential of the Middle East and North Africa

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