Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
This volume examines the economic and political incentives surrounding Arab regional integration, specifically three issues: the failure of past attempts at integration, the impact on countries involved in any future integration, and the possible lessons from other regional experiences, particularly the European Union.
Synopsis
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Improving the economic performance of Arab countries is now more critical than ever. The region faces high population growth rates, rising unemployment, and modest economic growth coupled with increasingly intense competition from emerging markets in eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Meeting these challenges requires finding ways to overcome political obstacles that impede socially beneficial economic reforms. Despite fifty years of repeated attempts at Arab economic integration, the results in terms of intraregional trade and investment flows have been very modest. This book explains why and discusses possible ways forward. The authors draw especially on the success of the European Union to assess the scope of Arab economic integration as an instrument for narrowing the persistent gap between the region s economic potential and its performance.
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Synopsis
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A Brookings Institution Press and the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES) publication
Improving the economic performance of Arab countries is now more critical than ever. The region faces high population growth rates, rising unemployment, and modest economic growth coupled with increasingly intense competition from emerging markets in eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Meeting these challenges requires finding ways to overcome political obstacles that impede socially beneficial economic reforms. Despite fifty years of repeated attempts at Arab economic integration, the results in terms of intraregional trade and investment flows have been very modest. This book explains why and discusses possible ways forward. The authors draw especially on the success of the European Union to assess the scope of Arab economic integration as an instrument for narrowing the persistent gap between the region s economic potential and its performance.
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Table of Contents
Between hope and reality : an overview of Arab economic integration / Ahmed Galal and Bernard Hoekman -- The economics and politics of Arab economic integration / Samiha Fawzy -- Egypt's export puzzle / Ahmed Galal and Samiha Fawzy -- A survey of barriers to trade and investment in Arab countries / Jamel Zarrouk -- Alternative paths to prosperity : economic integration among Arab countries / Denise Eby Konan -- Initial conditions and incentives for Arab economic integration : can the European Community's success be emulated? / Bernard Hoekman and Patrick Messerlin -- What can Arab countries learn from Europe? : an institutional analysis / L. Alan Winters.