Privilege-Resistant Polices in the Middle East and North Africa: Measurement and Operational Implications (MENA Development Report) by Syed Akhtar Mahmood
English | Feb. 6, 2018 | ISBN: 1464812071 | 190 Pages | PDF | 1 MB
Renewing the social contract-one of the pillars of the new World Bank Group strategy for the Middle East and North Africa-requires a new development model built on greater trust; openness, transparency, and inclusive and accountable service delivery; and a stronger private sector that can create jobs and opportunities for the youth of the region. Recent analytic work aimed at explaining weak job creation and insufficient private sector dynamism in the region point to formal and informal barriers to entry and competition.

Renewing the social contract-one of the pillars of the new World Bank Group strategy for the Middle East and North Africa-requires a new development model built on greater trust; openness, transparency, and inclusive and accountable service delivery; and a stronger private sector that can create jobs and opportunities for the youth of the region. Recent analytic work aimed at explaining weak job creation and insufficient private sector dynamism in the region point to formal and informal barriers to entry and competition. These barriers privilege a few (often unproductive) incumbents who enjoy a competition edge because of their connections or ability to influence policy making and delivery.
Policy recommendations to date in the field of governance for private sector policymaking have been too general and too removed from concrete, actionable policy outcomes. Privilege-Resistant Policies in the Middle East and North Africa: Measurement and Operational Implications proposes-for thefirst time-to fill this policy and operational gap by answering the following question: What good governance features should be instilled in the design of economic policies and institutions to help shield them from capture, discretion, and arbitrary implementation?
Privilege-Resistant Policies in the Middle East and North Africa benchmarks eight countries on a number of policy areas with regard to their vulnerability to privilege-seeking. The book offers various operational and technical entry points to enhance privilege-resistant policy making in a concrete way that is politically tractable in different country contexts.