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Poor Places, Thriving People
How to Put It All Together: Three Policy Approaches So we have three policy packages, each applicable to a different set of lagging areas (table 2.3 and figure 2.6). First, all lagging areas need fair access to decent institutions and human development. Second, lagging areas near to economic poles can gain from improved spillover connectivity. Third, places with private sector interest in unrealized economic potential could benefit from the government’s coordinating the underpinning of private investment with the necessary infrastructure, information, networks, and regulations. Figure 2.6 restates this framework and also serves as a map for the rest of this report. The process begins by checking the real size and trajectory of spatial disparities, because the spatial dimension of inequality is sometimes not as important at it appears. But if policy makers deem that the spatial disparities problem is serious enough to warrant intervention, the next stage is to identify the characteristics of the lagging areas in question. We will discuss these diagnostic stages in detail. The following three sections explore the three policy packages themselves: level the playing field and the opportunity for human development in lagging areas, connect lagging areas to the poles of development, and underpin private sector interest in nonleading areas’ economic potential. The last section concludes by exploring how MENA’s institutional structures can become more supportive of such territorial approaches. TABLE 2.3
Matching Policy Packages to Lagging Areas Policy packages
World Development Report 2009 terminology
Package 1. Level the playing field and the opportunity for human development in lagging areas
“Institutions” (“spatially blind policies”)
Package 2. Connect lagging areas to the poles of development
“Infrastructure” (“spatially connective policies”)
Package 3. Underpin private sector interest in nonleading areas
“Incentives” (“spatially focused policies”)
Sources: Study Team and World Bank 2009a.
Why? Spatial disparities in wellbeing can narrow even while production is agglomerating, so long as policies are appropriate. MENA has a historical legacy of policies’ widening disparities. For growth to spill over from economic poles into lagging areas, they have to be connected. Sometimes nonleading areas do move ahead to leading-area status (e.g., Tunisia’s center-east, Morocco’s Tanger-Tétouan)
Where? Applicable to all lagging areas
Lagging areas close enough to density to benefit Areas where the private sector sees unrealized growth potential