Marc Schiffbauer, a Senior Economist at the World Bank working in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management unit has been invited to speak the the DPP Evidence-Based Policymaking (EBPM) seminar series. The seminar, held on February 23, was the first event of the seminar series that brings together researchers across multiple departments at CEU interested in empirical issues related to social policy and public policy.
In his talk, Marc Schiffbauer discussed the complex relationships between favouritism, state capture and growth in the Middle East and Latin America. Marc’s main findings were based on his recent research looking at privileges conferred to politically connected firms in Egypt. The CEU audience discussed with Marc in-depth how and under which conditions politically connected firms enjoy protection from foreign competition and how they starve non-connected firms from growth opportunities. These findings have wide-ranging implications for international development, trade policy, and designing targeted policies which unlock economic growth.