Economic Research Forum This working paper assesses the role of the COVID-19 outbreak in accelerating digital transformation in the Middle East and North Africa region. The analysis relied on micro data collected from 5,480 firms surveyed in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. Working Paper
Read MoreEconomic Research Forum This working paper explores how labor market outcomes for MENA workers have evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper uses the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Economic Research Forum (ERF) COVID-19 MENA Monitor phone surveys in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia to examine outcomes of employment, unemployment, and labor force…
Read MoreEconomic Research Forum This working paper discusses the impact of job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on household income and food security in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. The authors show that laid-off workers have a higher propensity to consume their savings, get help from relatives, sell assets and borrow from family. Working Paper
Read MoreEconomic Research Forum This working paper examines how MENA women’s unpaid care responsibilities have changed during the pandemic. Working Paper
Read MoreEconomic Research Forum This working paper studies employment rates, wage inequality, hours of work, and employment recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic and after a general recovery in mid-2021. Working Paper
Read MoreProject on Middle East Political Science This article studies the nature of the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), exploring both within-region diversity and between-region variation. It concludes that while the MENA region as a whole is broadly similar to other parts of the world in its…
Read MoreProject on Middle East Political Science This article describes how women in the formal sector of MENA economies have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Authors focus on 3 MENA countries and explore the gendered impacts of the pandemic. Working Paper
Read MoreEconomic Research Forum This working paper analyzes how the outbreak of COVID-19 in the MENA region affected the accelerating digital transformation in business firms. The results demonstrate a strong association between the pandemic outbreak and digitization. They also show that the firms operating in the service sector were more likely to adopt digital solutions. Working…
Read MoreInternational Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth This article examines the social protection responses and strategies adopted by Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and UAE in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond merely stating the different policies, this paper focuses closely on the level of equity and real impact of these protective responses on different factions of society,…
Read MoreNature Scientific Reports This article utilizes nighttime lights data from NASA from 584 urban areas to track the implementation and adherence to curfew and lockdown measures in 17 MENA countries during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal Article
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