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Overview of Knowledge Economy in the Arab Region

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Abstract

This paper employs both the descriptive and comparative approaches and uses the definition of knowledge and knowledge indicators used in the literature to examine the existence and development of the knowledge economy in the Arab region. We fill the gap in the Arab literature and present a more comprehensive analysis of the development of knowledge indicators in the Arab region. Our findings support the first hypothesis that the knowledge economy exists in the Arab region and coincides with substantial knowledge gap compared to other world regions. Our results corroborate the second hypothesis concerning the variation in knowledge indicators according to the structure of the economy in the Arab region and support the third hypotheses concerning the poor and slow progress in the trend of the knowledge-related indicators in the Arab region. Therefore, it is essential for the Arab region to enhance the knowledge economy and indicators to achieve economic development in the Arab region.

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Notes

  1. The Arab region is composed of 22 countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman Occupied Palestine Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

  2. See Powell and Snellman (2004), p. 199.

  3. See OECD (1996), pp. 3, 9.

  4. See the World Bank- KEI, 2012: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTUNIKAM/Images/KEIindex.jpg

  5. For the purposes of calculating KI and KEI, each pillar is represented by three key variables, see (www.worlbank.org):

  6. See the World Bank (2011).

  7. See Nour (2002) for evidences of insignificant impacts of ICT in developing countries.

  8. Harbison–Myers index is the sum of secondary enrolment and tertiary enrolment times 5, both as % of age group. Technical enrolment index is tertiary total enrolment (times 1,000) plus tertiary enrolment in technical subjects (times 5,000), both as % of population. Engineering skills index is the same as with the previous index, with tertiary enrolments in engineering instead of enrolment in technical subjects.

  9. For the purposes of calculating KI and KEI, each pillar is represented by three key variables, for more information on these variables see the world bank: www.worlbank.org.

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Acknowledgments

The research work presented in this paper is based on a research project supported by a grant offered by the Global Development Network (GDN) Fourth Round Regional Research Grant Competition administered by the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey (ERF) in collaboration with GDN and a grant offered by the Middle East Research Grant Competition (MERC) (2003–2004) administered by the Center for the Study of Developing Countries (CICS), Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt in collaboration with Ford Foundation. The author gratefully acknowledges the ERF, GDN, MERC, and Ford Foundation for the research grants. The author would like to thank the participants for their useful comments on this paper. The author would like to gratefully thank Dr. Elias G. Carayannis, Editor-in-Chief of this journal, and two anonymous referees for their good cooperation and for their useful comments on the first draft of this paper. All the usual disclaimers apply.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business and Economics, University of Maastricht, UNU-MERIT, Keizer Karelplein 19, 6211 TC, Maastricht, the Netherlands

    Samia Satti Osman Mohamed Nour

  2. Economics Department, Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, Khartoum University, P.O.B 321, Khartoum, 11115, Sudan

    Samia Satti Osman Mohamed Nour

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  1. Samia Satti Osman Mohamed Nour
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Correspondence to Samia Satti Osman Mohamed Nour.

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Nour, S.S.O.M. Overview of Knowledge Economy in the Arab Region. J Knowl Econ 6, 870–904 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-013-0153-8

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