Trust, Voice, and Incentives: Learning from Local Success Stories in Service Delivery in the Middle East and North Africa

Brixi, Hana; Woolcock, Michael

doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0456-4

Cited by 56 publications

(54 citation statements)

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“…While public services were free, their quality was so poor that people ended up paying for services provided by the private sector. Teacher absenteeism was high (Brixi et al, ) and learning outcomes were disappointing (Devarajan and Ianchovichina, ).…”

Section: The ‘Unhappy Development’ Paradox In Developing Arab Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unhappy Development: Dissatisfaction With Life on the Eve of the Arab Spring

Arampatzi

Burger

Ianchovichina³

et al. 2018

Review of Income and Wealth

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AND ElEna ianchovichinaWorld Bank AND tina röhricht and ruut vEEnhovEn Erasmus University RotterdamDespite progress with economic and social development over several decades, life satisfaction was relatively low and declining in many developing Arab countries in the second half of the 2000s-a situation described in this paper as the "unhappy development" paradox. The paper empirically tests the direction and strength of association of a range of objective and subjective factors with subjective well-being in the Middle East and North Africa in the years immediately preceding the Arab Spring uprisings (2009-10). The findings suggest a significant, negative association between life satisfaction levels and each of the main perceived grievances voiced during the 2011 uprisings-dissatisfaction with the standard of living, poor labor market conditions, and corruption in the form of nepotism or cronyism. The increased prevalence of dissatisfaction with the standard of living contributed the most to the decline in subjective well-being during this period, followed by worsening labor market conditions manifested in increased unemployment and decline in self-reported earnings. In addition, perceptions about corruption became more important for people's life satisfaction, particularly in the Arab Spring countries where the uprisings were most intense.JEL Codes: D60, I31, Z13 economies, except the Republic of Yemen, and was low on average. The incomes of the bottom 40 percent, measured as 2005 PPP-adjusted per capita expenditure, grew at higher rates than average expenditures in many developing Arab countries for which information was available (Ianchovichina 2018). The Gini inequality indexes were moderate by international standards and did not worsen in most MENA economies (Ianchovichina 2018). Importantly, over the past decades the region had made notable strides in reaching not only the Millennium Development Goals related to poverty and access to infrastructure services (especially drinking water and sanitation and Internet connectivity), but also those related to reducing hunger and child and maternal mortality, and increasing school enrollment (Iqbal and Kiendrebeogo, 2016).Prior to the Arab Spring uprisings, most developing MENA countries were seen as relatively stable places. Only two MENA countries-Iraq (7th) and the Republic of Yemen (15th) -made it to the top 25 of the 2010 Failed States Index 1 of Foreign Policy. Libya and Tunisia were ranked 111th and 118th of 177 countries, respectively, and so they appeared among the stronger and less fragile countries in the world (Goodwin, 2011). With autocratic rulers in power for many years, the cracks in these countries' models of government remained invisible to most 1 The Failed States Index measures stability based on economic, political, and military indicators. Figure 1a. Satisfaction with Life and GDP per Capita, 2007-10. Note: Numbers are weighted averages for 145 countries. Abbreviations: EGY = Egypt; JOR = Jordan; LBN = Lebanon; MAR = Morocco; WBG = West Bank and...

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Section: The ‘Unhappy Development’ Paradox In Developing Arab Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unhappy Development: Dissatisfaction With Life on the Eve of the Arab Spring

Arampatzi

Burger

Ianchovichina³

et al. 2018

Review of Income and Wealth

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“…One reason is that teacher absenteeism rates in public schools in MENA were among the highest in the world (Brixi et al ., ). Since teachers were paid whether or not they showed up in the classroom, many chose to work elsewhere.…”

Section: A Broken Social Contractmentioning

confidence: 97%

A Broken Social Contract, Not High Inequality, Led to the Arab Spring

Devarajan¹,

Ianchovichina²

2017

Review of Income and Wealth

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During the 2000s, expenditure inequality in Arab countries was low or moderate and, in many cases, declining. Different measures of wealth inequality were also lower than elsewhere. Yet, there were revolutions in four countries and protests in several others. We explain this so-called "inequality puzzle" by first noting that, despite favorable income inequality measures, subjective well-being measures in Arab countries were relatively low and falling sharply, especially for the middle class, and in the countries where the uprisings were most intense. The increasing unhappiness, reflected in perceptions of declining standards of living, was associated with dissatisfaction with the quality of public services, the shortage of formal-sector jobs, and corruption. These sources of dissatisfaction suggest that the old social contract, where government provided jobs, free education and health, and subsidized food and fuel, in return for the subdued voice of the population, was broken. The Arab Spring and its aftermath indicates the need for a new social contract, one where government promotes private-sector jobs and accountability in service delivery, and citizens are active participants in the economy and society.JEL Codes: D63, I30, H40

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“…Yet, even these countries face serious problems with the quality of education and health services. Teacher absenteeism in many GCC countries is high, and students in Qatar, for example, fare much worse on standardized tests than their counterparts in Vietnam (Brixi et al, 2015).…”

Section: Figure 2 High Consumption Spending In the Large Oil-exportimentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Use Oil Revenues Efficiently

Devarajan¹

2019

Institutions and Macroeconomic Policies in Resource-Rich Arab Economies

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Oil-rich countries systematically misallocate public expenditures relative to non-oil countries--by favoring consumption over capital, and within consumption, inefficient subsidies and public-sector wages over targeted transfers. Furthermore, for given levels of expenditure, value-for-money is considerably less in oil-rich countries. This paper argues that the reason for this inefficiency is that oil revenues go directly to the government without passing through the hands of the citizens, as is the case with tax revenues. As a result, governments in oil countries are less accountable for public expenditure, which leads to inefficient spending. To improve public-spending efficiency, we propose that all oil revenues be distributed directly to citizens, and the resources that government needs be raised through taxation. We show that such a scheme improves the efficiency of public spending. We consider possible obstacles to such a reform and show that they have been overcome by technology, politics, and global events.JEL Classifications: H2, H5, O13, D8

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Trust, Voice, and Incentives: Learning from Local Success Stories in Service Delivery in the Middle East and North Africa

Cited by 56 publications

References 0 publications

Unhappy Development: Dissatisfaction With Life on the Eve of the Arab Spring

Unhappy Development: Dissatisfaction With Life on the Eve of the Arab Spring

A Broken Social Contract, Not High Inequality, Led to the Arab Spring

How to Use Oil Revenues Efficiently

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