Research

This paper examines how Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs) imposed by India affect firms’ sourcing decisions and innovation investments. Focusing on restrictive TBTs identified through WTO Specific Trade Concerns (TBT-STCs), the analysis combines this database with firm-level panel data on Indian manufacturing firms over the period 1991–2006. The results show an increase in the use of domestic inputs and a weaker decline in reliance on imported intermediates. Firms also reduce in-house R&D while increasing payments for royalties and technical know-how. These effects are concentrated among firms more exposed to international markets, with import-dependent firms driving sourcing adjustments and foreign-owned firms accounting for the increase in royalty payments. The findings provide firm-level evidence on how trade-restricting regulations shape sourcing and technology choices in a large developing economy.

This paper examines how Egyptian importing firms adjust when a product becomes subject to an anti-dumping investigation or duty. Using firm–product–origin customs data from 2005 to 2016, the analysis identifies an investigation effect: firms reduce import quantities and face higher import prices even before duties are imposed. Enforcement leads to similar but more moderate adjustments. On the extensive margin, investigations reduce entry and increase exit in targeted product–origin pairs, indicating partial disengagement from affected sources rather than complete withdrawal from the product market. This adjustment is accompanied by trade reallocation across origins, with diversion toward non-targeted suppliers during investigations that weakens after duties are enforced. The results provide firm-level evidence on how anti-dumping procedures shape import behavior in a developing-country context.

A public development bank (PDB), like any other bank, serves as a financial intermediary, but with a strong developmental role. This paper provides an overview of PDBs in Egypt. The latter is of particular interest for two reasons. First, while PDBs have a long history in the Egyptian economy, their roles and interventions are rather limited. This applies to banks that were created during the socialist era of Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Second, the largest share of PDB-related projects implemented in Egypt is undertaken by government-owned commercial banks, namely the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire. Thus, the objective of this paper is twofold: first, to analyze how and why the role of PDBs can be played by public banks; and second, to highlight the lessons that can be learned from the resilience of the Egyptian financial systems to the succession of crises/disruptions. 

• Fouad, J., Said, M., Sherif, W., & Zaki, C. (2022) . Public Banks and Development in Egypt: Overview, Issues and the Way Forward. Economic Research Forum (ERF)