Publication: Arab Republic of Egypt - Reshaping Egypt’s Economic Geography : Domestic Integration as a Development Platform, Volume 2. Technical Background Reports
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2012-06
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2012-06
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This report investigates Egypt's regional economic growth, explores the causes for geographically unbalanced development, and proposes policy options to make unbalanced growth compatible with inclusive development. In Egypt, despite rapid progress in most welfare indicators in lagging regions, there are still substantial gaps in consumption and opportunities between growth poles and the rest of the country. This report's central proposal is adopting spatial integration as a development platform, in which the policy focus shifts from spreading out industrial location to spreading out access to basic public services and facilitating factor mobility, which will make growth more inclusive and development more balanced in Egypt. Egypt's new political environment provides an opportunity to examine this perennial problem from a new perspective. Adopting integration as a development platform is not simple because spatial disparities are spanned in three dimensions: urban/rural dichotomies, the upper Egypt/lower Egypt duality, and the differences between large metropolises and the rest of the country. This report first identifies the gaps in consumption and in opportunities, showing the stark contrasts between regions and how they evolve through time. It then explores the causes of the gaps, revealing a multiplicity of factors and exposing the complexity of the problem. Finally, the bulk of the report presents the policy options to address the integration challenges.
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“World Bank. 2012. Arab Republic of Egypt - Reshaping Egypt’s Economic Geography : Domestic Integration as a Development Platform, Volume 2. Technical Background Reports. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11906 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Reshaping Egypt's Economic Geography : Domestic Integration as a Development Platform(Washington, DC, 2012-06)This report investigates Egypt's regional economic growth, explores the causes for geographically unbalanced development, and proposes policy options to make unbalanced growth compatible with inclusive development. Regional disparities in income and consumption may be attributed to differences in natural endowments and geographical location, but unbalanced growth is mostly due to economies of scale, spillover effects, and the lower transaction costs that result from agglomeration. In Egypt, despite rapid progress in most welfare indicators in lagging regions, there are still substantial gaps in consumption and opportunities between growth poles and the rest of the country. Adopting integration as a development platform is not simple because spatial disparities are spanned in three dimensions: urban/rural dichotomies, the upper Egypt/lower Egypt duality, and the differences between large metropolises and the rest of the country. This typology of instruments underlies the menu of options presented in this report as the basis of domestic spatial integration as a development platform to achieve more balanced and equitable development without sacrificing growth. This report first identifies the gaps in consumption and in opportunities, showing the stark contrasts between regions and how they evolve through time. It then explores the causes of the gaps, revealing a multiplicity of factors and exposing the complexity of the problem. Finally, the bulk of the report presents the policy options to address the integration challenges.Publication Arab Republic of Egypt - Reshaping Egypt's Economic Geography : Domestic Integration as a Development Platform, Volume 1(Washington, DC, 2012-06)This report investigates Egypt's regional economic growth, explores the causes for geographically unbalanced development, and proposes policy options to make unbalanced growth compatible with inclusive development. In Egypt, despite rapid progress in most welfare indicators in lagging regions, there are still substantial gaps in consumption and opportunities between growth poles and the rest of the country. This report's central proposal is adopting spatial integration as a development platform, in which the policy focus shifts from spreading out industrial location to spreading out access to basic public services and facilitating factor mobility, which will make growth more inclusive and development more balanced in Egypt. Egypt's new political environment provides an opportunity to examine this perennial problem from a new perspective. Adopting integration as a development platform is not simple because spatial disparities are spanned in three dimensions: urban/rural dichotomies, the upper Egypt/lower Egypt duality, and the differences between large metropolises and the rest of the country. This report first identifies the gaps in consumption and in opportunities, showing the stark contrasts between regions and how they evolve through time. It then explores the causes of the gaps, revealing a multiplicity of factors and exposing the complexity of the problem. 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Using data from the two household surveys in 2000 and 2005, this report assesses the nature and dimensions of poverty in Egypt, and discusses the role of macroeconomic policies and labor markets in improving living standards. The report updates the findings of "Poverty Reduction in Egypt: Diagnosis and Strategy," published by the World Bank in 2002. Over the last two years Egypt has achieved remarkably high economic growth. Should this turnaround be sustained, there is hope that poverty can be dramatically reduced. Even though the report does not cover this most recent period, it is important to learn from the lessons of the recent past, and the report provides new information and insights that could be useful for policy-makers: 1) It identifies the overall scope and trends in poverty between 2000 and 2005, focusing on material aspects, but also assessing progress in non-income dimensions; 2) It isolates key correlates to poverty and economic vulnerability, providing detailed analysis of how inflation affected the poor in this period; 3) It links the labor market's developments with changes in living standards and poverty; and 4) It provides the analytical base for mapping poverty in Egypt, which can improve the targeting of social programs. The first chapter examines the evolution of living standards in Egypt during the period of analysis - 2000 to 2005. It also gives the details of the poverty map and where the poor live. Chapter 2 describes who the poor are and provides the poverty correlates: looking at the characteristics of the poor and the relation of these characteristics to education (and access to education), employment, gender, age, or asset characteristics. Chapter 3 continues by providing some background on economic developments between 2000 and 2005 and identifies possible areas of policy interventions in light of economic and social policies and developments after 2005. Chapter 4 offers in-depth analysis of the labor market to attempt to discern longer-term trends in living standards, and links employment with poverty levels. Finally, Chapter 5 looks at the capacity of the monitoring system, and lays the foundations for a future analytical program.
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