Resource information
This book is organized as follows: this
first chapter examines the pattern of structural
transformation in Middle East and North Africa, or MENA and
summarizes the role of various factors examined thoroughly
in the rest of the volume. This second chapter examines the
correlates of this overall disappointing performance. At the
macro level, MENA countries have been unable to maintain
depreciated (undervalued) real exchange rates for long
periods, yet such undervaluation has proved important to
offset the market failures and poor institutional
environment that severely hit the dynamic
non-resource-intensive traded sectors. This third chapter
shows that services sectors in resource-rich MENA countries
have been declining as a share of gross domestic product
(GDP) and of non-mining GDP as per capita incomes increase.
This fourth chapter explores the presence of systematic
differences between the patterns of diversification in MENA
and the rest of the world. This fifth chapter shows that
from a historical perspective, fiscal policy has not
contributed significantly to diversification in MENA,
because it has been more oriented toward food and fuel
subsidies (consumption) rather than toward public goods such
as infrastructure (investment). Finally, in this sixth
chapter, the authors emphasize the different characteristics
of the regional partners in terms of their resource
endowments and consider wealth distribution effects within
the region.
