Iwasaki Erina

Developing industrial linkages as spatial binding forces has become crucial for improving firms’ productivity. This paper examines the impacts of the adoption of forward and financial linkages on the vertical integration and performance of textile and garment firms in Egypt. This study uses a sample of 1020 micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, employing propensity score matching to mitigate the endogeneity bias caused by the self-selection problem in adopting industrial linkages. Inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment is applied as a doubly robust estimator to quantify the impact. The results confirm the positive impact of forward linkage on total factor productivity (TFP). We also found that financial linkage positively affects labor productivity, TFP, and vertical integration, while its impact on exports was marginal. Adopting financial linkage can increase the value-added per labor by 11–13 thousand Egyptian pounds and increase vertical integration by 13 percentage points. Industrial linkages have not realized an impact on exports in the current market structure; however, extending financial linkage works as an alternative to mitigating financial constraints. We underscore the significance of the policy that fosters forward and financial linkages to induce vertical integration and productivity growth.

One of the areas that show the most visible effects of human-induced land alterations is also the world’s most essential resource: water. Decision-makers in arid regions face considerable difficulties in providing and maintaining sustainable water resource management. However, developing appropriate and straightforward approaches for quantifying water use in arid/hyper-arid regions is still a formidable challenge. Meanwhile, a better knowledge of the effects of land use land cover (LULC) changes on natural resources and environmental systems is required. The purpose of this study was to quantify the water consumption in a hyper-arid region (New Valley, Egypt) using two different approaches—LULC based on optical remote sensing data and groundwater storage changes based on Gravity Recovery Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data—and to compare and contrast the quantitative results of the two approaches. The LULC of the study area was constructed from 1986 to 2021 to identify the land cover changes and investigate the primary water consumption patterns. The analysis of groundwater storage changes utilized two GRACE mascon solutions from 2002 to 2021 in New Valley. The results showed an increase in agricultural areas in New Valley’s oases. They also showed an increased in irrigation water usage and a continuous decrease in the groundwater storage of New Valley. The overall water usage in New Valley for domestic and irrigation was calculated as 18.62 km3 (0.93 km3/yr) based on the LULC estimates. Moreover, the groundwater storage changes of New Valley were extracted using GRACE and calculated to be 19.36 ± 7.96 km3 (0.97 ± 0.39 km3/yr). The results indicated that the water use calculated from LULC was consistent with the depletion in groundwater storage calculated by applying GRACE. This study provides an essential reference for regional sustainability and water resource management in arid/hyper-arid regions.

The number of deep groundwater wells in the arid lands of Egypt has increased greatly since the mid-twentieth century. Modern well drilling technology using rotary drilling rigs and pumping tests came to Egypt with the beginning of the New Valley Project in 1958, bringing significantly increased water discharge. Taking Rashda Village in Dakhla Oasis as a case study, this paper documents the expansion of agricultural lands as a result of the development and application of well drilling technologies. The materials used include satellite images from 1968 until 2018, and groundwater well data obtained from field visits and governmental reports. The analysis makes clear that there has been a huge change in land use/cover over the past 50 years (1968–2018) with the largest expansion of agricultural lands occurring between 1988 and 2003 driven by acceleration in well drilling. One of the complex phenomena that appeared is the increase in drainage ponds from 15.6 ha in 1968 to 194.4 ha in 2018 where growth of drainage ponds was correlated with the rapid increase in agricultural lands (1998–2003). In the past two decades, Rashda village has been under continuous pressure from population growth and increasing water demand for agricultural, domestic, industrial, and institutional uses. However, the development has continued without attention to its sustainability.

Dakhla Oasis is the most highly populated oasis in Egypt. Although the groundwater resource is very large, there is essentially no rainfall and the aquifer from which the water is drawn is not recharged. Therefore, for the future development and sustainability of Dakhla Oasis, it is important to understand how land and water are used in the oasis and meteorological conditions there. In this study, meteorological and satellite data were used to examine the recent agricultural situation and water use. The results showed that the meteorological conditions are suitable for plant production, and the maximum vegetation index value was comparable to the Nile delta. The cultivated area increased between 2001 and 2019 by 13.8 km(2) year(-1), with most of the increase occurring after the 2011 revolution (21.2 km(2) year(-1)). People living in Dakhla Oasis derive their income primarily from agricultural activity, which requires abundant water. Thus, the increasing demand for water is likely to put pressure on the groundwater resource and limit its sustainability.

This study investigates the effect of agglomeration on technical efficiency of small and medium-sized garment firms in Egypt. Using a sample of 502 firms, we estimated a translog stochastic frontier production function with inefficiency components. We also applied a switching regression model to address self-selection in choice of agglomeration. Results confirm that agglomeration enhances technical efficiency of sampled firms through development of industrial linkages and accumulation of human capital. Given the increasing importance of cluster-based development policies, we underscore the need to promote agglomeration of garment firms, and thereby foster forward and backward linkages to improve their efficiency and to develop global value chains.

The Nefzaoua region in southern Tunisia is characterized by the presence of various types of oases. However, despite their diversity, the oases are often classified into only two categories according to their cultivation mode: traditional and modern. In light of concerns over the sustainability of oasis society, assessing the rationality of modern and traditional oases in the context of both natural and economic environments is necessary. This paper attempts this assessment, and employs a case study based on a survey of farmers in two oases, Mouthabra (a modern oasis) and Souk Bayez (a traditional oasis), in the spring of 2012. As an empirical analysis, this paper investigates the farm-level technical efficiency of date palm production by oasis farmers in southern Tunisia, estimating the Cobb- Douglas form of stochastic frontier production function. The results shed light on the distinction between traditional and modern oases. Traditional oases have higher productivity in date palm production than modern oases because of the farmers’ efforts to maximize their possible outputs. Although traditional oases are facing water scarcity, there is considerable scope for increasing date production.

Adoption of multilayer farming on agricultural production is traditionally observed among date farms in oases of southern Tunisia. While some farmers prefer monoculture of Deglat Nour production, other innovative farmers consider this multilayer farming as a survival strategy. It is regarded as an important method of farming adapted to oases agriculture under severe water constraints. Despite the growing interest among the policy makers and scholars in multilayer farming, a question remains whether the multilayer farming impacts on production, productivity and income of farms. This is especially so for the date farms in Tunisia where date production make up an important product for the farmers and as export good as well. Using cross-section data collected during 2014 in Nefzaoua, this chapter studies the effect of multilayer farming in terms of farm-level production, productivity, and income compared with monoculture farming, which plants only Deglat Nour, to determine appropriate procedures for policy makers. Specifically, we employ a propensity score matching (PSM) method and compare the production, productivity and income of the farms that adopted multilayer farming and those that did not. Our results suggest that the adoption of multilayer farming has a positive effect on land productivity and average water productivity, although we cannot confirm its impact on date production and agricultural income. Although monoculture date farming is regarded as an efficient farming method, these results provide empirical evidence that support the effectiveness of traditional farming method.

The Nefzaoua region in southern Tunisia is characterized by the presence of various types of oases. However, despite their diversity, the oases are often classified into only two categories according to their cultivation mode: traditional and modern. In light of concerns over the sustainability of oasis society, assessing the rationality of modern and traditional oases in the context of both natural and economic environments is necessary. This paper attempts this assessment, and employs a case study based on a survey of farmers in two oases, Mouthabra (a modern oasis) and Souk Bayez (a traditional oasis), in the spring of 2012. As an empirical analysis, this paper investigates the farm-level technical efficiency of date palm production by oasis farmers in southern Tunisia, estimating the Cobb- Douglas form of stochastic frontier production function. The results shed light on the distinction between traditional and modern oases. Traditional oases have higher productivity in date palm production than modern oases because of the farmers' efforts to maximize their possible outputs. Although traditional oases are facing water scarcity, there is considerable scope for increasing date production.

Since January 25th Revolution, political arena in Egypt is getting more and more chaotic, from which emerged the two opposing political tendencies: street politics and electoral politics. This article focuses on the interaction between these two opponents, and analyzes their political behaviors. The data used is obtained by four opinion surveys conveyed by the authors in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012 during the Revolution, especially the fourth opinion survey in 2012. Using this data, this article clarified the appearance of 'new electoral participants' mainly in urban areas through the democratization process since 2011, and argued that their highly fluid electoral behavior contributed in the electoral winning of Islamic parties.<br>This article also argued that the fluidity of new urban electoral participants is in relation with the vulnerability of Egyptian urban society that is reflected in the nature of poverty. In effect, Egypt has two types of poverty, permanent poverty prevailing in rural areas, especially Upper Egypt, and temporal poverty in urban areas. These two types of poverty have led the urban and rural citizens to take different political behavior, although they both face globalization.

This paper aims to evaluate the poverty situation in the unplanned areas in Cairo as a case study. The unplanned areas, which are considered low-income areas, make up the majority of Cairo, and they have attracted the interest of policymakers and researchers because of their huge size and the political upheavals that have occurred since the 1990s. However, there have been no studies on poverty in these areas owing to a lack of data. The originality of this paper lies in employing three concepts of poverty: consumption-based poverty, a multidimensional poverty index (MPI), and subjective poverty. By using these different concepts of poverty, this paper contributes to the understanding of the nature of poverty and the interrelationship between these three measures of poverty in Greater Cairo. The main finding is that the three types of poverty are different. Households can be poor according to the MPI measure or can consider themselves to be poor, even though they are not objectively poor on the consumption-based measure. This implies that policies aiming at improving living standards in these areas should address and design strategies according to the types of poverty that are prevalent. © 2013 African Development Bank.

Dakhla Oasis is located in the heart of the Western Desert of Egypt 190 km to the West of the Kharga Oasis where it contains highly fertile lands rich in water and it supports a higher population compared to the Kharga Oasis. The study area is mainly concentrated in the Rashda village where Well No. 3 Irrigation District is located to the northwest of the village. Satellite imageries of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) 1972 and 1984, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) 1988, and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 2000 were used to determine the change in landuse and change in elevation with its relation to landuse. The automated unsupervised classification technique was applied to delineate the different landuse classes. Landsat-5/TM and Landsat-7/ETM + images in the period between 2001 and 2010 have been used to study crop rotation at the Rashda village to detect the amount of vegetation cover and its condition in the Well No.3 district. The land use change analysis showed that the extension of cultivated land was already completed by the 1980s in the North and South subdistricts, after which it spread toward the West. Because the altitude in the West subdistrict is lower than the wells, irrigation water could be distributed adequately if the condition of the irrigation channel was well maintained. The relationship between the irrigation level and plant production was not favorable in the West compared with other subdistricts. The cultivated area in the West district has been increasing since the 1970s. According to the crop rotation analysis, the different productivity of the subdistricts was caused by several factors, including the land altitude and the distance from the well, as well as other factors such as social relationships in the village. © 2012 National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences.

This paper provides a quantitative explanation about the voices of socioeconomic discontents among the Egyptian public, focusing on the relation between the political attitude and the various kinds of social, economic, and cultural factors, using the data collected by the Opinion Survey in Egypt 2008. The survey is conducted by ERTC (Economic Research and Training Center) within the framework of the Need-Based Program "Middle East within Asia" (at Hitotsubashi University). It covers 1,000 Egyptians aged 18 and above. The originality of this survey is that it enables to investigate the Egyptian public's political attitude at a regional level. The regional level, here, means the Urban Governorates (Cairo and Port Said), Lower Egypt Governorates, and Upper Egypt Governorates. Using the data obtained from this survey and analyzing at regional level, this paper clarifies the characteristics of the Egyptian public's political attitude and its relationship with socioeconomic background at the regional level.

Rural migration to Greater Cairo is a phenomenon that indicates the dynamics of rural-urban linkage. The paper aims, as part of a study on the urban-rural relationship in Egypt, to offer basic information on village associations in Cairo. A village association refers to an association organized by Cairo residents who originally come from the same village. The paper is composed of five chapters including the introduction in Chapter I. Chapter II explains the spatial differences in socioeconomic aspects in Greater Cairo by conducting a cluster analysis and displaying its results on a digital map. Chapter III presents the overall situation of village associations in Cairo by examining their location, memberships and activities, based primarily on the list of 576 village associations in Cairo governorate. Chapter IV is a case study of the association of a village named Abu Senita that uses the association's member list. Finally, Chapter V concludes with certain implications concerning the characteristics of the urban-rural relationship between villages and Greater Cairo deduced from our analysis will be deduced from the analysis of village associations. Our conclusions are as follows. Recently, some associations have become more active and are diversifying their activities, which play an important role for the migrants as a means of coping with the socioeconomic difficulties in daily life in Cairo. Village associations of migrants from Lower and Upper Egypt are the same in this regard. However, socioeconomic backgrounds appear to differ between migrant village associations from Lower and Upper Egypt. For Lower Egypt, the essential factors influencing the foundation of village associations appear to be their proximity to Greater Cairo, and the lack of job opportunities in the nonagricultural sector. Conversely, for Upper Egypt, while migration is essentially a socioeconomic phenomenon caused by low income and unemployment, the establishment of an association seems to be a rather matter of social network or culture, and an issue requiring further examination through a case study.