In this study we examine the effects of remittances and governance on economic growth in ten MENA countries. We choose these countries because they have relatively stable political situations. Using annual data from the World Bank over the period 2002-2017, we estimate panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models due to the existence of mixed levels of integration among series involved in this study. Control variables such as gross capital formation, consumption per capita and openness among others are integrated in these models. A governance composite is computed using the 6 governance indicators from the world bank. These indicators are used individually in different ARDL models with their interactions with the remittances to explore their impact on economic growth. The findings indicate a negative impact of the remittance on economic growth in the quasi-totality of the models. However, while governance composite shows a positive impact on economic growth, taking into consideration the dimensions of governance leads to conflicting results.

Résumé :La théorie budgétaire du niveau des prix distingue deux types de régimes pour les politiques économiques : Ricardien et Non-Ricardien. Nous analysons dans quelle mesure ces deux régimes peuvent s'appliquer à des sous-périodes dans l'histoire économique d'un pays. Le cas du Liban, passé de la prospérité à la guerre puis à la reconstruction, offre une application de cette théorie, et montre sa pertinence empirique. The fiscal theory of the price level makes a distinction between two kinds of policy-making regimes: a Ricardian and a non-Ricardian one. We analyse here the conditions under which these regimes can apply to different periods, some of them being troubled periods, in a given economy. The case of Lebanon, which has successively gone through periods of prosperity, war and reconstruction, offers a case study for the fiscal theory of the price level, and shows its empirical relevance. Mots-clés :

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La gestion de la dette publique interne pourrait avoir un effet d’externalité positive sur le développement financier des pays en voie développement même si, dans la littérature, certains effets négatifs sont identifiés. En utilisant les tests de causalité au sens de Granger, nous testons la relation entre la dette publique interne et le développement financier dans le cas de deux pays méditerranéens, à savoir le Liban et la Tunisie. Tandis que dans le cas du Liban, aucun effet significatif de la dette publique interne sur le développement financier n’a été établi, certaines relations de causalité au sens de Granger ont été validées dans le cas de la Tunisie.

The paper’s main objective is to analyze the social sustainability of the external public debt of some MENA countries, namely, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey between 1990 and 2018. The study carries out a dual statistical and econometric analysis to determine the impact of external public debt on the population welfare. The first analysis aims to examine the evolution of the debt social sustainability indicators and the second uses the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) panel data estimation technique. Statistical analysis reveals that the external public debt service weighs heavily on public spending in health, education, and public investment. While the econometric study establishes that the ratio of external public debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has a negative effect on the population’s standards of living. The study concludes that external public debt in MENA countries has been used to finance non-productive expenditures, which have no effect on the population’s living conditions. It highlights the need to consider the views of both debtors and creditors to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable approach to public debt. The latter should integrate the social and environmental consequences of debt on the well-being and living conditions of the population.