RT Monograph
SR 00
A1 Gasmi, Farid
A1 Kouakou, Dorgyles
A1 Noumba Um, Paul
A1 Rojas Milla, Pedro
T1 An empirical analysis of the social contract in the MENA region and the role of digitalization in its transformation
YR 2023
FD 2023-03
VO 23-1423
SP 51
K1 Development
K1 social contract
K1 digital transformation
K1 MENA
K1 OECD
AB This paper presents an empirical application and analysis of the social contract in MENA countries based on the conceptual framework proposed by Loewe et al. (2021). We suggest a simple operational model synthesizing a social contract's three main characteristics: Participation, Protection, and Provision, between a government and its citizens. This empirical "3-P" framework allows us to investigate the role that government provision and protection may have on citizen participation, which is particularly pertinent given the political and economic development of MENA countries. We compare our evaluation of the health of MENA countries' social contract to that of OECD countries, and find empirical evidence that the social benefits provided to citizens through improved delivery of basic services have come at the cost of impaired political Participation. This feature of the social contract in MENA may be considered one of the root causes of the social turmoil some countries have been struggling with in recent decades. Digital transformation is one potentially powerful channel through which the relationship between government and citizens can improve, and we find that it has a three-year lagged positive effect on the quality of the social contract in MENA and that this effect is inversely U-shaped. This suggests that structural and institutional improvements in MENA countries are called for before the quality of their social contract reaches levels comparable to those of OECD countries.
T2 TSE Working Paper
PB TSE Working Paper
AV Published
LK https://publications.ut-capitole.fr/id/eprint/47425/
UL http://tse-fr.eu/pub/128020