If Not Now, When? Energy Price Reform in Arab Countries; April 2017 Rabat, Morocco

Policy Papers ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (30) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Energy Price ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
Price Reform ◽  
Excessive Consumption ◽  
Fiscal Space ◽  
Energy Products

Regulating energy prices has been a common practice around the world. The objective is, generally, to facilitate access to energy products, which are central to people’s well-being and countries’ economic development. However, energy price regulation also leads to wasteful and excessive consumption, discourages investment in the energy sector, and locks in inefficient technologies. Low energy prices also result in subsidies that erode fiscal space, while benefits for the poor are limited. All these effects have been evident in Arab countries, where domestic energy prices are among the lowest in the world. The current environment of low oil prices offers a unique opportunity for change. Lessons from international experience suggest how well thought-out and sequenced reforms can be successful.

نموذج التنمية المستدامة في الصين ومدى استفادة العرب منها / China’s Sustainable Development Model and How Arabs Benefit From it

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80
Author(s):  
Massoud Daher
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
The World

Abstract Based on the development of positive relations between China and the Arab countries in the context of a new globalization on the path to a multipolar world, this study addresses the following methodological issues: China’s development achievements in the reform and the opening-up movement, China’s success in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic, and the analysis of the notion of “Sustainable Development” and the Chinese characteristics of the concept of socialism. Accurate scientific conclusions confirmed that sustainable development with Chinese characteristics constitutes a distinct model of rational and balanced development that achieved the well-being of the Chinese population. The Belt and Road Initiative has been widely welcomed in all Arab countries. Arab institutions, both official and private, have begun to study the Chinese development model to build a new style of development based on social stability, economic prosperity and mutual benefit. China is a leading model for promoting the common interest of people. China contributes positively to the well-being of its people and the rest of the world through cooperation. It is moving forward with high-quality development plans that provide new opportunities to revive the global economy, which is suffering from the drawbacks of the Covid-19 pandemic. Having presented China as a leading human model of inclusive development to realize the Chinese Dream, the enlightened Arab elites have shown increasing interest in this high-quality experiment that has succeeded in eradicating poverty, combating Covid-19, helping the recovery of the global economy, and promoting opportunities for advancement, innovation and creativity on a global level. Since China’s development was built on moral and humanitarian rules, it is warmly welcomed in the Arab countries because it affirms that humans are the greatest capital and the goal of sustainable development. It offers rich and useful lessons for everyone around the world.

Energy Justice Along the ‘New Silk Road’

2020 ◽  
pp. 122-136
Author(s):  
Anatole Boute
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Energy Price ◽  
Financial Viability ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Price Increases ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
The World ◽  
Energy Justice

Central Asia holds massive energy reserves, but its energy systems are generally unreliable and inefficient. Although the region’s energy prices are amongst the lowest in the world, increasing prices to improve utilities’ financial situations and ensuring the urgently needed investments are made are issues of high social and political sensitivity. Popular discontent with tariff increases has already helped to trigger regime change in Kyrgyzstan in 2010. Given the sensitivity of energy price increases and tight budgetary constraints in the region, what legal options are available to restore utilities’ financial viability without jeopardizing the affordability of energy supply? Focusing on procedural justice, this chapter argues that domestic courts have an important role to play in balancing utilities’ right to cost-recovery tariffs and consumers’ rights to affordable energy supply.

Growing Inequality: What Can We Do?

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 5-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Camdessus
Keyword(s):  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Education Outcomes ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
Fiscal Space ◽  
Global Initiative ◽  
Emerging And Developing Countries ◽  
Social Turmoil ◽  
Total Wealth

Growing inequality in the world is disturbing. For example, on average, the top 10 percent of the households hold 50 percent of total wealth. Inequality is even higher in emerging and developing countries. Rising inequality in disposable income has adverse consequences on growth over the medium term and leads to growing frustrations and potentially social turmoil. It adversely affects people’s living conditions, societal cohesion, and social mobility. Governments need to tackle rising inequality urgently and create opportunities and advancement for all. They need to invest in human capital and provide the poor with better health services and stronger education. Means-tested transfers focused on young children have often achieved more equitable health and education outcomes. These efforts require increased fiscal space. Increased progressivity in taxation would (within reason) also help reduce inequality. Additionally, a global initiative on inequality, in which countries would commit to implement their own-designed measures to increase the income of the poorest 40 percent faster than the national median, is proposed. Countries would support each other by sharing experiences, while multilateral organizations would help them design their policies. Two global conferences, in 2023 and in 2028, would examine progress and identify the most effective policies.

Democracy and the global spread of progressive taxes

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-191
Author(s):  
Laura Seelkopf ◽  
Hanna Lierse
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Tax Legislation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Spread ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Shed Light

The adoption of modern tax policies is crucial for social development. Taxes raise revenue, which allows governments to invest in public goods and social protection. At the same time, they can be highly redistributive and thus are complementary to social policies. Hence, the adoption of modern taxes is a critical step towards social development as it allows for the very financial foundation for investing in and increasing the well-being of individuals. But how can we explain the global spread of taxes around the world? While most countries nowadays have adopted similar tax instruments, the timing of legislation has varied widely. A common explanation is that democracies are more likely to adopt new and redistributive forms of taxes as they are more accountable to the poor. In this article, we shed light on the link between regime type and tax legislation based on a new historical and global dataset for up to 131 countries since the 19th century. Our findings show that whereas regime type has no influence on the introduction of regressive taxes, democratic countries are more likely to adopt progressive taxes.

scholarly journals How Do the Poor Respond to Rising Prices?

2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (4II) ◽  
pp. 827-842
Author(s):  
Zareen Fatima Naqvi ◽  
Mohammad Akbar
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Services ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
Fiscal Space ◽  
The Government

Recent estimates show that after falling in the 1980s, poverty has made a comeback in Pakistan during the 1990s. The Government of Pakistan (GOP) estimate show an increase in caloric poverty headcount from 17 percent in 1987-88 to 33 percent in 1998-99 and also rising income inequality during the 1990s.1 In contrast preliminary estimates by the World Bank show that poverty may not have risen as rapidly during the 1990s and may even have stagnated.2 Slow down in economic growth, rising open unemployment, rising food and non-food prices, reduction in the fiscal space for pro-poor public programmes, poor governance hampering delivery of social services to the poor; are factors that have been attributed to the growing poverty and vulnerability of households in recent years.

scholarly journals Revolutionary transformations in the consumption of energy in the world

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-279
Author(s):  
M. M. Sokolov
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Energy Complex ◽  
The World ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere

. Modern revolutionary trends in the development of the world fuel and energy complex are considered. The economic pattern that has existed for many centuries, according to which economic growth must always be accompanied by an increase in energy consumption, is now no longer relevant for many industrialized countries. Absolute reduction of energy consumption and reduction of energy intensity of national product production become one of the most important indicators of successful use of modern technological progress in countries.The development of science and technology over the past 20 years has permanently eliminated the threat of possible energy shortages. On the contrary, the world is gradually entering an era of global energy surpluses, which will naturally affect the dynamics of energy prices in the direction of slowing their growth.It is shown that along with technological progress, no less serious impact on the development of the fuel and energy complex of the world is exerted by the rapid development of renewable energy and the activities carried out under the auspices of the UN to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the earth’s atmosphere.According to the author, the revolutionary restructuring of the structure of the world energy balance in favor of energy sources with zero emissions of pollutants into the earth’s atmosphere today shows that one of the most important circumstances of their development, both from developed and some developing countries, was the growth of well-being in them. In this regard, the population’s consciousness began to dominate not the issues of survival at any cost, but the quality of life, including the quality of the environment.That is why, despite the fact that the VIE at first did not withstand competition in comparison with the production of hydrocarbons, most countries, using subsidies and tax preferences, continue today to intensively increase their capacity. This circumstance shows, if earlier for centuries the world at use of this or that power source was guided by expenses of its production and use, now its influence on preservation of favorable conditions of residence of the person on the earth Comes to the first place.

Russian Citizens' Representations of the Country's Position in the Geopolitical Space of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, and the World

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-251
Author(s):  
Victor F. Petrenko ◽  
Olga V. Mitina ◽  
Kirill A. Bertnikov
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Multidimensional Space ◽  
Commonwealth Of Independent States ◽  
Repertory Grids ◽  
Implicit Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Invariant Factors

The aim of this research was the reconstruction of the system of categories through which Russians perceive the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, and the world as a whole; to study the implicit model of the geopolitical space; to analyze the stereotypes in the perception of different countries and the superposition of mental geopolitical representations onto the geographic map. The techniques of psychosemantics by Petrenko, originating in the semantic differential of Osgood and Kelly's “repertory grids,” were used as working tools. Multidimensional semantic spaces act as operational models of the structures of consciousness, and the positions of countries in multidimensional space reflect the geopolitical stereotypes of respondents about these countries. Because of the transformation of geopolitical reality representations in mass consciousness, the commonly used classification of countries as socialist, capitalist, and developing is being replaced by other structures. Four invariant factors of the countries' descriptions were identified. They are connected with Economic and Political Well-being, Military Might, Friendliness toward Russia, and Spirituality and the Level of Culture. It seems that the structure has not been explained in adequate detail and is not clearly realized by the individuals. There is an interrelationship between the democratic political structure of a country and its prosperity in the political mentality of Russian respondents. Russian public consciousness painfully strives for a new geopolitical identity and place in the commonwealth of states. It also signifies the country's interest and orientation toward the East in the search for geopolitical partners. The construct system of geopolitical perception also depends on the region of perception.

The essence and causes of the spiritual and moral decline of mankind in the XX century

1998 ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
V. Tolkachenko
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Social Force ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Of Religion

One of the most important reasons for such a clearly distressed state of society was the decline of religion as a social force, the external manifestation of which is the weakening of religious institutions. "Religion," Baha'u'llah writes, "is the greatest of all means of establishing order in the world to the universal satisfaction of those who live in it." The weakening of the foundations of religion strengthened the ranks of ignoramuses, gave them impudence and arrogance. "I truly say that everything that belittles the supreme role of religion opens way for the revelry of maliciousness, inevitably leading to anarchy. " In another Tablet, He says: "Religion is a radiant light and an impregnable fortress that ensures the safety and well-being of the peoples of the world, for God-fearing induces man to adhere to the good and to reject all evil." Blink the light of religion, and chaos and distemper will set in, the radiance of justice, justice, tranquility and peace. "

Policy Review: Dubai Health Authority’s COVID-19 Rapid Response

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (Special) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Rapid Response ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
World Health ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
First Case ◽  
The World

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is the entity regulating the healthcare sector in the Emirate of Dubai, ensuring high quality and safe healthcare services delivery to the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020, indicating to the world that further infection spread is very likely, and alerting countries that they should be ready for possible widespread community transmission. The first case of COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates was confirmed on 29th of January 2020; since then, the number of cases has continued to grow exponentially. As of 8th of July 2020 (end of the day), 53,045 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed with a death toll of 327 cases. The UAE has conducted over 3,720,000 COVID-19 tests among UAE citizens and residents over the past four months, in line with the government’s plans to strengthen virus screening to contain the spread of COVID-19. There were vital UAE policies, laws, regulations, and decrees that have been announced for immediate implementation to limit the spread of COVID- 19, to prevent panic and to ensure the overall food, nutrition, and well-being are provided. The UAE is amongst the World’s Top 10 for COVID-19 Treatment Efficiency and in the World’s Top 20 for the implementation of COVID-19 Safety measures. The UAE’s mission is to work towards resuming life after COVID-19 and enter into the recovery phases. This policy research paper will discuss the Dubai Health Authority’s rapid response initiatives towards combating the control and spread of COVID-19 and future policy implications and recommendations. The underlying factors and policy options will be discussed in terms of governance, finance, and delivery.

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