Amr Ragab - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Amr Ragab
Review of Economics of the Household
This study examines how a large negative economic shock impacts marriage rates for young men in t... more This study examines how a large negative economic shock impacts marriage rates for young men in the West Bank. Utilizing data from before and after the sudden and abrupt closure of the Israeli labor market for Palestinian commuters from the West Bank in 2001, our empirical design employs a difference-in-difference strategy and uses the variations in localities’ exposure to the Israeli labor market before the shock. The closure reduced the employment and income of adult men asymmetrically across localities. Our findings show that the closure caused a reduction in marriage rates among young men aged 19 to 29 years, as post-shock changes in marriage rates. Our results suggest that the adverse effect of the economic shock on male marriage is mediated through a combination of rising youth unemployment and rigid expectations about marriage costs.
The Middle East region has suffered from major unemployment problems that constituted a chief det... more The Middle East region has suffered from major unemployment problems that constituted a chief determinant for the Arab Spring. Even during its best economic years, “jobless growth” was an issue. Thus, creating employment, in the private sector, is always on the top priority of all governments in the region. However, the success of increasing employment in the private sector requires an understanding of the factors and conditions necessary for private firms to create jobs. This paper tries to tackle this issue by shedding lights on some of determinants of job growth within firms across the region. This study is one of few that used firm-level data from the World Enterprise Surveys (WES), conducted by the World Bank, to analyze the labor market demand in the MENA region. As such, the study applies a two-part strategy: 1) a detailed statistical analysis of characteristics of each firm group, and 2) an econometric estimation using multinomial logit regressions to determine the significa...
Review of Economics of the Household
This study examines how a large negative economic shock impacts marriage rates for young men in t... more This study examines how a large negative economic shock impacts marriage rates for young men in the West Bank. Utilizing data from before and after the sudden and abrupt closure of the Israeli labor market for Palestinian commuters from the West Bank in 2001, our empirical design employs a difference-in-difference strategy and uses the variations in localities’ exposure to the Israeli labor market before the shock. The closure reduced the employment and income of adult men asymmetrically across localities. Our findings show that the closure caused a reduction in marriage rates among young men aged 19 to 29 years, as post-shock changes in marriage rates. Our results suggest that the adverse effect of the economic shock on male marriage is mediated through a combination of rising youth unemployment and rigid expectations about marriage costs.
The Middle East region has suffered from major unemployment problems that constituted a chief det... more The Middle East region has suffered from major unemployment problems that constituted a chief determinant for the Arab Spring. Even during its best economic years, “jobless growth” was an issue. Thus, creating employment, in the private sector, is always on the top priority of all governments in the region. However, the success of increasing employment in the private sector requires an understanding of the factors and conditions necessary for private firms to create jobs. This paper tries to tackle this issue by shedding lights on some of determinants of job growth within firms across the region. This study is one of few that used firm-level data from the World Enterprise Surveys (WES), conducted by the World Bank, to analyze the labor market demand in the MENA region. As such, the study applies a two-part strategy: 1) a detailed statistical analysis of characteristics of each firm group, and 2) an econometric estimation using multinomial logit regressions to determine the significa...