1. Bellakhal, R., Ben Kheder, S. and Haffoudhi, H. (2019). Governance and renewable energy investment in MENA countries: How does trade matter? Energy Economics.
Abstract: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries have recently developed renewable energy (RE) markets. However, their rate of investment in renewable energy remains small compared to other regions in the world despite their relatively abundant endowments, particularly in wind and solar. While the literature identifies some barriers to investment in renewable energy, we assume that the investment of MENA countries could be impeded by specific governance factors. Furthermore, we consider recent literature showing that trade openness reduces the negative effects of weak governance. In this paper, we empirically investigate the link between governance, openness, and renewable energy investment in the MENA region using panel data for 15 MENA countries over the period 1996-2013. Our results prove that a higher institutional quality is associated with RE investment in MENA countries. In addition, this relationship seems to be conditional on the trade regime. Our results are robust to several measures of renewable energy investment and governance as well as to an alternative econometric set-up.
Jel Code: –
Keywords: Renewable energy; Governance; Trade openness; Interaction effect; Panel data models
Affiliation of authors: Bellakhal, R. (WTO Chair; University of Manouba and UR MASE-ESSAIT, Université de Carthage, Tunisia), Ben Kheder, S. (WTO Chair, ESSECT, University of Tunis) and Haffoudhi, H (WTO Chair and UR MASE-ESSAIT, Université de Carthage, Tunisia)
2. Abbassi, A., Dakhlaoui, A., Lota, T. (2020). Minimum price policy impact in the Tunisian dairy sector. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies.
Abstract: The objectives of this article are to develop a partial equilibrium model for a dairy sector according to two approaches—“Quantity Formulation” and “Price Formulation”—and to show their equivalence under the assumption of perfect competition. We introduce the spatial dimension to present the“Price Formulation” approach of models developed by Bouamra et al. (1998) and Abbassi et al. (2008) . We illustrate theoretically and numerically how to incorporate the minimum price policy at the farm level for the Tunisian dairy sector according to the Price Formulation approach. We analysed two scenarios of removal of minimum price policy that differ according to the values of farm supply elasticity. The simulation results show that producers stand to lose between 78.6 and 127.8 million Dinars in surplus depending on the value of farm supply elasticity. Permit holders’ rent would also decrease between 0.8 and 1.3 million Dinars. However, consumers’ surplus is predicted to increase between 67.8 and 110.1 million Dinars compared with the baseline solution. The overall welfare implications of removal of minimum price policy are negative and range between 13.3 and 18.2 million Dinars.
Jel Code: :L66, C6, Q13
Keywords: minimum price policy, dairy sector, partial equilibrium model, price
formulation, quantity formulation.
Affiliation of authors: Abbassi, A. (WTO Chair; University of Carthage, Tunisia), Dakhlaoui, A. (WTO Chair; University of Carthage, Tunisia) and Lota, T (University of Laval, Canada )
3. Haffoudhi, H. and Bellakhal, R. (2020). Threshold Effect of Globalization on Democracy: the Role of Demography. Journal of the Knowledge Economy.
Abstract: The literature presents conflicting expectations about the effect of globalization on democracy. One view expects globalization to enhance democracy, a second argues that globalization obstructs democracy; a third argues that it does not necessarily affect democracy. In this paper, we consider the threshold effect approach to reconcile these different results. We study the role of demography in the determination of the relationship between globalization and democracy. Based on a panel of 97 countries for the period 1993–2013, we use a threshold panel model (Hansen 1999) as well as a dynamic threshold panel model (Kremer et al. 2013) to estimate the effect of globalization on democracy, taking into account the demographic structure of the country. We find evidence of a threshold effect of demographic characteristics on the relationship between globalization and democracy and prove that the impact of globalization on democracy is regime specific. Our results show a positive impact of globalization associated with “early demographic transition regime” and a negative impact for countries with “late demographic transition regime.” Our results remain robust to alternative measure of democracy.
Keywords: Globalization; Democracy; Demographic transition; Threshold effects; Panel threshold model
Affiliation of authors: Haffoudhi, H (WTO Chair and UR MASE-ESSAIT, Université de Carthage, Tunisia) and Bellakhal, R. (WTO Chair; University of Manouba and UR MASE-ESSAIT, Université de Carthage, Tunisia).