All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia
Understanding state-business relationships and how they have shaped the institutional architecture of countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) is crucial for the identification of systemic vulnerabilities and reform priorities. In th...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/05/20144399/all-family-state-capture-tunisia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20542 |
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okr-10986-205422021-04-23T14:03:56Z All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia Rijkers, Bob Freund, Caroline Nucifora, Antonio AUTHORIZATION REQUIREMENTS BAILOUTS BALANCE SHEET BUSINESS COMMUNITY BUSINESS REGULATIONS BUSINESSES CAPITAL CONTROLS COMPETITORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES EMPLOYMENT ENTREPRENEURS ENTREPRENEURSHIP FIRM PERFORMANCE FIRMS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT GROWTH RATES ID IMAGE INSTITUTIONAL ARCHITECTURE INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INVESTMENT POLICIES INVESTMENT POLICY INVESTMENT REGULATIONS INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS LICENSING MARKET SHARE MARKET VALUE OUTPUT PRIVATE SECTOR REAL ESTATE REGULATORY INFRASTRUCTURE REGULATORY RESTRICTIONS RESULT RESULTS RULE OF LAW STARTUP STATE CAPTURE STOCK MARKET STOCK MARKET CAPITALIZATION TAX TELECOMMUNICATIONS Understanding state-business relationships and how they have shaped the institutional architecture of countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) is crucial for the identification of systemic vulnerabilities and reform priorities. In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between regulation and the business interests of President Ben Ali and his family, using unique firm-level data from Tunisia for 1994 to 2010, and document how Tunisia s investment policy was abused to serve the president s family s private interests. In spite of widespread recognition of its importance, empirical evidence on state capture has been limited by a lack of data. To redress this lacuna, the authors merge data on investment regulations with balance sheet and firm-level census data in which 220 firms owned by the Ben Ali family are identified. The data set assembled allows identifying the relationship between investment policies and the business interests of Tunisia's politicians. Tunisians today literally continue to pay the price of privileges extended to an elite group of entrepreneurs. Reform efforts have not yet resulted in an opening up of economic opportunities for all, which is unfortunate since this was one of the central demands of those who took the streets a little over three years ago. 2014-11-19T15:31:34Z 2014-11-19T15:31:34Z 2014-05 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/05/20144399/all-family-state-capture-tunisia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20542 English en_US MENA knowledge and learning quick notes series;no. 124 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research Middle East and North Africa Tunisia |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
AUTHORIZATION REQUIREMENTS BAILOUTS BALANCE SHEET BUSINESS COMMUNITY BUSINESS REGULATIONS BUSINESSES CAPITAL CONTROLS COMPETITORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES EMPLOYMENT ENTREPRENEURS ENTREPRENEURSHIP FIRM PERFORMANCE FIRMS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT GROWTH RATES ID IMAGE INSTITUTIONAL ARCHITECTURE INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INVESTMENT POLICIES INVESTMENT POLICY INVESTMENT REGULATIONS INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS LICENSING MARKET SHARE MARKET VALUE OUTPUT PRIVATE SECTOR REAL ESTATE REGULATORY INFRASTRUCTURE REGULATORY RESTRICTIONS RESULT RESULTS RULE OF LAW STARTUP STATE CAPTURE STOCK MARKET STOCK MARKET CAPITALIZATION TAX TELECOMMUNICATIONS |
| spellingShingle |
AUTHORIZATION REQUIREMENTS BAILOUTS BALANCE SHEET BUSINESS COMMUNITY BUSINESS REGULATIONS BUSINESSES CAPITAL CONTROLS COMPETITORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES EMPLOYMENT ENTREPRENEURS ENTREPRENEURSHIP FIRM PERFORMANCE FIRMS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT GROWTH RATES ID IMAGE INSTITUTIONAL ARCHITECTURE INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INVESTMENT POLICIES INVESTMENT POLICY INVESTMENT REGULATIONS INVESTMENT RESTRICTIONS LICENSING MARKET SHARE MARKET VALUE OUTPUT PRIVATE SECTOR REAL ESTATE REGULATORY INFRASTRUCTURE REGULATORY RESTRICTIONS RESULT RESULTS RULE OF LAW STARTUP STATE CAPTURE STOCK MARKET STOCK MARKET CAPITALIZATION TAX TELECOMMUNICATIONS Rijkers, Bob Freund, Caroline Nucifora, Antonio All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia |
| geographic_facet |
Middle East and North Africa Tunisia |
| relation |
MENA knowledge and learning quick notes
series;no. 124 |
| description |
Understanding state-business
relationships and how they have shaped the institutional
architecture of countries in the Middle East and Northern
Africa (MENA) is crucial for the identification of systemic
vulnerabilities and reform priorities. In this paper, the
authors examine the relationship between regulation and the
business interests of President Ben Ali and his family,
using unique firm-level data from Tunisia for 1994 to 2010,
and document how Tunisia s investment policy was abused to
serve the president s family s private interests. In spite
of widespread recognition of its importance, empirical
evidence on state capture has been limited by a lack of
data. To redress this lacuna, the authors merge data on
investment regulations with balance sheet and firm-level
census data in which 220 firms owned by the Ben Ali family
are identified. The data set assembled allows identifying
the relationship between investment policies and the
business interests of Tunisia's politicians. Tunisians
today literally continue to pay the price of privileges
extended to an elite group of entrepreneurs. Reform efforts
have not yet resulted in an opening up of economic
opportunities for all, which is unfortunate since this was
one of the central demands of those who took the streets a
little over three years ago. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Brief |
| author |
Rijkers, Bob Freund, Caroline Nucifora, Antonio |
| author_facet |
Rijkers, Bob Freund, Caroline Nucifora, Antonio |
| author_sort |
Rijkers, Bob |
| title |
All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia |
| title_short |
All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia |
| title_full |
All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia |
| title_fullStr |
All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia |
| title_full_unstemmed |
All in the Family : State Capture in Tunisia |
| title_sort |
all in the family : state capture in tunisia |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/05/20144399/all-family-state-capture-tunisia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20542 |
| _version_ |
1764445746371756032 |