Volume 10, Issue 2 -

Containing inflation has turned out to be one of the most challenging aspects of economic management in Iraq since the invasion in 2003. This paper posits that conventional as well as unconventional factors explain inflation dynamics in the recent past. We build a theoretical model based on the insights into the workings of socialist economies under supply shortages in Shleifer and Vishny model to help explain price dynamics. In the model, strategic behavior of the distribution monopolist results in fuel shortages, with implications for fuel and non-fuel inflation. A number of discrete adjustments of administered prices for fuel products since December 2005 offer an interesting experiment to help study this behavior using the Shleifer–Vishny model. Our estimates confirm presence of strategic behavior in price fuel price setting and show that inflation was influenced by shortages in fuel supplies and by violence.

It has been widely documented that there is a high level of inter-industry wage dispersion in the United States and several other developed countries. Unfortunately, due to the lack of data availability, industry wage differentials in developing countries have been examined in only a few studies and have been constrained by data limitations. Identifying the causes of industry wage differentials is crucial because it has policy implications toward mitigating wage inequality and unemployment. In this paper, I investigate industry wage differentials in the Palestinian territories – the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – using a rich dataset that allows cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. I find that observed labor quality, unobserved labor quality, and labor market segmentation along the public and private sector represent the most suitable explanations for inter-industry wage dispersion in the Palestinian territories. Additionally, there is (limited) evidence of a shirking model especially in Gaza.

The Iraqi stock market is a young and nascent market that began its operation in June 2004. This paper explains the development of the Iraq stock exchange (ISX). It is shown that some progress was achieved in its development but the market is still very small with less than 100 companies listed. Moreover, the determinants of the Iraqi stock market index are described. It is found that the ISX index is mainly driven by exchange rates, interest rates, the overall security situation as measured by an index for civilian deaths from violence, electricity as a proxy for economic activity, and the price index. Finally, this paper shows that the market still lacks efficiency. While the lack of efficiency is no surprise shortly after the opening of a market, it is noteworthy that the market is still inefficient after the introduction of electronic trading and an increase in liquidity.

In recent years, the Islamic finance industry has attracted the attention of policymakers and international donors as a possible channel through which to expand financial inclusion, particularly among Muslim adults. Yet cross-country, demand-side data on actual usage and preference gaps in financial services between Muslims and non-Muslims have been scarce. This paper uses novel data to explore the use of and demand for formal financial services among self-identified Muslim adults. In a sample of more than 65,000 adults from 64 economies (excluding countries where less than 1% or more than 99% of the sample self-identified as Muslim), the analysis finds that Muslims are significantly less likely than non-Muslims to own a formal account or save at a formal financial institution after controlling for other individual- and country-level characteristics. But the analysis finds no evidence that Muslims are less likely than non-Muslims to report formal or informal borrowing. Finally, in an extended survey of adults in five North African and Middle Eastern countries with relatively nascent Islamic finance industries, the study finds little use of Sharia-compliant banking products, although it does find evidence of a hypothetical preference for Sharia-compliant products among a plurality of respondents despite higher costs.