Publications

Amidst the disrupting circumstances resulting from the global pandemic COVID-19, this new study, jointly conducted by the Regional Program Political Dialogue South Mediterranean of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association EMEA, assesses the resilience of the healthcare systems in the Mediterranean with a focus on six countries: Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia.

The study, authored by EMEA President Prof. Rym Ayadi and EMEA researcher Sara Ronco, sheds light on the healthcare systems in the targeted countries, their preparedness, crisis management, the role of the European Union and international community in supporting the targeted countries, and policy responses to contain the pandemic. The study also includes policy recommendations aiming at improving healthcare capacity in a medium-to-long term plan.

This study is a part of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s (KAS PolDiMed) Regional Program Political Dialogue South Mediterranean, which aims to implement cross-national projects with reference to the South (Maghreb) and East Mediterranean (Mashrek). Its objective is to strengthen the political dialogue and societal and economic integration in the Mediterranean region and to sustainably promote cooperation and partnership with the European Union.

The central question of this paper is whether income inequality causes credit booms along with other factors. We distinguish between different types of credit boom: real estate, household, and firms’ credit booms, as well as credit booms that turn into crises.

Using a sample of 70 countries between 1990 and 2016, we find that income inequality does not cause credit booms in our global sample. When splitting the data by income level, we find that income inequality is a determinant of credit booms turning into crisis in high income countries.

Capital inflows increase the likelihood of credit boom occurrence and countries experiencing high economic growth tend to have more credit booms. Finally, in countries with fixed exchange rate regimes, credit booms are more frequent.

In this article, using the ESIMOP / PROMISE framework of Roberto Rigobon and systems thinking concepts, we propose a dynamic systems perspective, to raise questions about the processes of change that are required, on multiple scales.

Based on this way of thinking, the example of COVID-19 episode highlights more than ever the critical need to find a clever equilibrium between human activity (in its several forms) and the Earth’s ability to cope, giving due consideration to the resulting general implications.