https://hdl.handle.net/10481/14225 Mon, 20 Apr 2026 03:00:42 GMT 2026-04-20T03:00:42Z https://hdl.handle.net/10481/93142 Foreign direct investment in MENA: Impact of institutional context* Carril Caccia, Federico; Milgram Baleix, Juliette; Paniagua Soriano, Jordi This policy brief summarizes the findings from a study on the determinants of greenfield investment in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The results point out that institutional deficiencies deter foreign direct investment in the region and in particular, for the main oil producers within this region. Improvements in the areas of democratization, institutional quality and violence reduction would undoubtedly make the region more attractive to foreign investors. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/93142 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/93141 Foreign Direct Investment in the MENA Region: Factors that Hinder or Favour investments in the Region Carril Caccia, Federico; Milgram Baleix, Juliette; Paniagua Soriano, Jordi Concerning possible specificities of MENA as host countries, our results suggest that cultural ties trigger FDI in MENA: sharing the same religion and language fosters investments in these countries more than in any other region https://hdl.handle.net/10481/93141 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/31591 Early retirement, social security, and output gap Díaz-Saavedra, Julián We analyze two social security reforms aimed at increasing working lifetimes. The first reform eliminates early retirement provisions, while the second increases both the age of early eligibility and the normal retirement age. We and that although both reforms increase the participation rates of older workers, the elimination of early retirement provisions reduces future social security imbalances if benefits taken early are not reduced actuarially. Additionally, we nd that both reforms increase aggregate hours and output, although e ciency gains derived from the elimination of the early retirement scheme are distant from previous estimates since labor supply could be less responsive. Finally, we also nd that the output gap brought about by the early retirement scheme may decrease in coming decades. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/31591 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/31590 Age-dependent taxation, retirement behavior, adn work hours over the life cycle Díaz-Saavedra, Julián We use a computable overlapping generations model economy, which matches the stylized facts concerning retirement behavior, to analyze the consequences of three reforms designed to reduce tax rates on the labor supply of older workers. We nd that these reforms increase the participation rates of the elderly and show that the gains, in terms of old age work hours, are non-trivial. However, we also nd that the total labor supply response to the reforms is not so much an increase in total lifetime hours as it is a reallocation of hours over the life cycle. Finally, we show that these reforms, designed to increase the length of the working life of individuals, may not increase output. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/31590 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/31589 Interindividual deprivation, close and remote individuals Imedio Olmedo, Luis José; Bárcena-Martín, Elena; Parrado Gallardo, Encarnación In assessing relative deprivation, the classical approach considers that individuals compare their income with each and every income of the distribution, and assign equal weight to these comparisons. In this paper we propose a more realistic alternative approach to obtain individual deprivation. We assume that the deprivation of the individual depends, to a greater extent, on the situation of those who are part of their social environment (neighbors, colleagues, family, or, in general, the individual’s reference group) rather than on the situation of those in an unattainable situation from the individual’s point of view. In developing their aspirations, individuals focus on the group to which they belong or at least, they feel they are likely to belong to. As a particular case, our proposal includes the classical approach, allowing us to explain some situations that do not fall under the assumptions of that approach. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/31589