Electricity consumption and economic growth: Bounds and causality analyses of OPEC members

This paper investigates the relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth for OPEC members. The bounds test yields evidence of a long-run relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth for all OPEC members. Causality results suggest that economic growth is dependent on electricity consumption in five countries, less dependent in three countries, and independent in three countries. Because these countries do not necessarily share similar political and economic traits, no single universal policy implication can be inferred from the results. The disparities across these causality results, therefore, stress the importance of formulating causality explanations while taking into account the particularities of individual countries rather than blindly applying the conventional interpretations. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Measuring the Accessibility of Arab Markets

Market access matters. This paper uses a method suggested by Hugo et al. (2006) to determine and rank a sample of Arab countries in terms of their market access. The paper suggests that market access is comprised of three components: public institutions, regulatory environment, and network industries. The paper finds that most Arab countries perform better than the world median in terms of market access, except for Morocco and Algeria. The paper demonstrates how these two countries and other Arab countries can improve their market access, either by improving their network industries, their public institutions, or their regulatory environment. Corresponding Author, Zayed University, Economic & Policy Research Unit, P.O. Box 19282, Dubai, UAE, Phone: +971 4 402 1465, Fax: +971 4 402 1002, E-mail: [email protected] Zayed University, Economic & Policy Research Unit, P.O. Box 19282, Dubai, UAE, Phone: +971 4 402 1470, Fax: +971 4 402 1002, E-mail: [email protected]

Accidents, Airline safety perceptions and consumer demand

This paper assesses the impact of perceptions about the safety level of airlines on enplanement. Consumer perceptions are specified with a Poisson distribution that updates over time. Using two different empirical specifications via a pooled generalized least squares procedure with fixed effects; we find no statistical evidence of a correlation between the perceived level of safety and enplanement. However, under an alternative specification in which the severity levels of accidents are ranked, we find that safety perceptions about accidents with minor injuries have no statistically significant impact on enplanement, while perceptions about accidents with serious injuries and fatalities lead to cumulative decreases in enplanement

Openness and access

This article uses a data set from the World Economic Forum that quantitatively captures nonexistent or scarce data to test the relationship between trade openness and market access. In recognition of the diversity and range of trade openness measures, this article uses five different openness measures and one measure of market access comprising public institutions, the regulatory environment, and network industries. This article finds that all three components matter and that better market access leads to greater trade openness in both nominal and real terms

How Open are Arab Economies? An Examination with the CTI Measure

In empirical trade openness studies where trade openness is usually measured as (X+M)/GDP, most Arab countries, particularly larger economies, such as Algeria and Egypt, are determined to be closed to the advantages of world trade. This paper uses a new measure of trade openness, the composite trade intensity (CTI) measure, suggested by Squalli and Wilson (2006) to reconsider the question of Arab country trade openness. The paper suggests that when trade openness is measured using CTI, many Arab economies, particularly the larger ones, are not as closed to the benefits of trade as traditionally thought

A sectoral efficiency analysis of the Amman Stock Exchange

Market efficiency is tested for across the four sectors of the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). Using daily sectoral indexes between 1992 and 2004 and a variance ratio and runs tests, it is found that the random walk and weak form efficiency hypotheses are rejected for all sectors. Furthermore, it is found that returns fit a mean-reverting process which may suggest abnormally high volatility, overinflated stock prices, and frequent market corrections from a bubble effect. This also indicates that investments in all sectors of the ASE may be very risky in the short run

An analysis of growth competitiveness

The publication of the Global Competitiveness Report 2005-2006 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) (2005) has focused attention once more upon the relative abilities of many countries to compete in world markets. This article provides an analysis and evaluation of the approach taken by the WEF in constructing its measure of international growth competitiveness, the Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI) which is used to rank countries. In particular, the study identifies three areas where the GCI is vulnerable to criticism. First, the treatment of outliers for hard data items is ambiguous and we identify alternative methods for dealing with outliers that are justifiable or even superior. Second, the crucial role of the variable utility patents in the calculation of the GCI is questioned and serious doubts concerning the use of this variable are raised. Third, the article suggests an alternative approach, based upon structural equation modeling, which should be used for the determination of weights in the index calculation process, rather than the arbitrary method adopted by the WEF

Re-thinking Borders in the Digital Space

On the basis of the arguments advanced by Imad Saleh, Nasreddine Bouhai, and Hakim Hachour (Saleh, Bouhai, & Hachour, 2014) concerning the impact of “digital borders” generated by the Internet on the dynamics of inter-disciplinary research, we have been led to blend disciplines in order to develop the following question: are representations in the digital space located in a borderless communication imagery? Here the humanities are called upon to look into the underpinnings of the meanings assigned to digital space, in its conception and its technological praxis. This question also provokes the following underlying reflections: how could we define the notion of borders in relation to a space that is non-territorialized at the level of human perceptions and where customs officials are not quite “in flesh and blood”? How does a border present itself? Does its representation influence conception and technological praxis? As a matter of priority we define what a border is in space for the purpose of confronting this definition with imagined borders in order to analyze the digital space in its continuum between openness and limits

Conduite à tenir devant un utérus didelphe associé à un hémivagin borgne

L'utérus didelphe avec hémivagin borgne est une malformation rare, souvent diagnostiquée juste après les premières règles. La survenue d'un hématocolpos associée à une hématométrie et parfois un hématosalpinx est responsable de douleurs pelviennes et d'une dysménorrhée de plus en plus invalidante. Le diagnostic est posé par l'échographie pelvienne et selon l'urgence par l'imagerie par résonnance magnétique ; l'agénésie rénale ipsilatérale est constante dans ce type de malformation. Le traitement consiste en une résection large de la cloison vaginale permettant ainsi un drainage continu de l'hémi utérus rétentionnel associé à une coelioscopie objectivant les répercussions tubaires et pelviennes. Nous rapportons un cas d'utérus didelphe avec hémivagin borgne diagnostiqué à l'âge de 23 ans, nous discuterons à travers ce cas les aspects cliniques, diagnostiques et thérapeutiques de cette malformation utérine.Pan African Medical Journal 2012; 13:5