Economic Transition in the Middle East: Global Challenges & Adjustment Strategies

284 Pages·1998·5.38 MB·English

by  Heba Handoussa

Economic Transition
in the Middle East
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Economic Transition
in the Middle East
Global Challenges
and Adjustment Strategies
Edited by Heba Handoussa
The American University in Cairo Press
First published in 1997 by
The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini
Cairo, Egypt
http://aucpress.com
Copyright © 1997 by the Economic Research Forum
for the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey
Second printing 2000
This edition published by arrangement with the
Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran and
Turkey
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher.
Dar el Kutub No. 11801/96
ISBN 977 424 428 1
Printed in Egypt
Preface
This volume brings together a number of studies on the major issues of adjust-
ment as they apply to countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The selection of chapters is based on papers presented at a conference orga-
nized by the Economic Research Forum and held in Rabat in 1995, as well as
at an earlier conference organized in 1992 by the American University in
Cairo.
The authors draw on economic, political and institutional theory in order
to appraise and compare development models, identify the determinants of
sustained growth, apply the new development concepts to the case of MENA
countries, and suggest viable options to reduce the political and social
constraints to reform.
The first chapter of the book presents a review of the global context and
domestic setting in which MENA countries are attempting to liberalize their
economies, with a summary of the arguments and policy-related results pre-
sented by the contributing authors.
In the second part of the book, three papers address the key questions
posed by the process of globalization, deregulation, privatization and institu-
tional reform, with a focus on the adjustment and liberalization efforts need-
ed in countries of the MENA region. Another two papers analyze the experi-
ence of Southeast Asian success stories, drawing some key policy lessons of
relevance to developing countries.
The third part of the volume provides a critical analysis of the status of
adjustment and liberalization in eleven MENA countries, with a focus on the
comprehensiveness and speed of the state's disengagement from economic
activity and on the political economy of reform. The final chapter gives a
detailed assessment of the past performance and future options for industrial
policy in the context of liberalization, using Egypt as a case study and com-
paring its experience with that of South Korea and other successful Southeast
Asian countries.
Four sets of issues are vividly highlighted throughout the book: the issue
of integration into the global economy and the speed with which foreign trade
should be liberalized; the issue of divestiture and the merits of following var-
ious privatization strategies; the issue of state intervention in the context of
liberalization and private sector orientation; and the issue of democratization
and the political economy of reform.
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Contents
Preface v
Part I. Introduction and Overview
1. Adjustment and Beyond: The Middle East in Transition 3
Heba Handoussa
Part II. The International Setting
2. Global Challenges and Opportunities Facing MENA 19
Countries at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
RaedSafadi
3. Why East Asian Economies Have Been Successful: 43
Some Lessons for Other Developing Countries
Byron Gangnes and Seiji Nay a
4. Adjustment, Investment and Growth in the 61
High-Performing Asian Economies
Amor Bhattacharya and John M. Page, Jr.
5. From Import Substitution to Outward Orientation: Some 89
Institutional and Political Economy Conditions for Reform
Jeffrey B. Nugent
6. Privatization as a Policy for Development 107
Giacomo Luciani
Part III. Country Perspectives
7. Etatisme Versus Privatization: The Changing Economic 125
Role of the State in Nine Arab Countries
Nazih Ayubi
8. The Changing Economic Role of the State from a Turkish 167
Perspective
Fikret Adaman and Murat Sertel
9. Economic Adjustment and Political Liberalization in Morocco 183
Driss Ben All
10. Industrial Policy and the Role of the State in Egypt: 219
The Relevance of the East Asian Experience
Mona Said, Ha-Joon Chang and Khaled Sakr
Index 263
274
vii
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Part I.
Introduction and Overview