Economic and Trade Policies in the Arab World: Employment, Poverty Reduction and Integration

This book explores the link between trade policy-making, employment generation and poverty reduction in Arab countries. It argues that, because of recent high population growth and the emergence of an often highly-educated youth population bulge, employment generation ought to be a prime aim of economic and trade policy in Arab countries. It analyses the trade policies of selected Arab countries, discusses how far trade policies have succeeded in generating employment, and examining also recent moves to integrate Arab economies more fully into the global economy, and recent moves towards regional economic integration. It concludes that the picture is mixed, with many Arab economies continuing to be over-reliant on the export of a few commodities, with international trade having little spillover into the wider economy and with regional economic integration being almost non-existent, in need of being pushed forward with a new approach.