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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has witnessed much change over the past few decades. It has experienced the difficulties of post-colonial independence followed by a number of wars, and political unrest. Nevertheless, the MENA economy is still in its early days, and the potential there is huge. When one needs to understand an economy in order to invest, enter the market or just for the sake of understanding, economic research is the way for that.
Economic research is done in the areas of productivity, competitiveness, market structure, framework policies, business innovation, business investment, and sectoral trends and issues. This research is vital for making sound economic policies to help boost the economy. If you are interested in more economic research you can always look up an economic consulting firm and talk with an employee.
There are some vital steps to economic research. They are:
- Identify the economic issues
- Develop a question
- Identify an area of potential contribution
- Develop evidence
- Draw conclusions
- Apply analysis to current policy issues
When researching economics, it is important to identify an issue. Don’t just research labor economics; put your focus on the degree to which gender affects wage differentials.
An economic question should be problem-oriented, analytical, interesting, significant, and amenable to economic analysis.
- Problem-oriented: The question being asked for research should be meaningful, not just a problem that can be answered with a simple yes or no.
- Analytical: The question should drive the research to explain rather than describe.
- Interesting: The research should encourage exemplary work
- Amenable to economic analysis: There should be insights to be gained from applying economic analysis to the question
To research economics, you must collect and analyze data, monitor economic trends, and develop forecasts. You are analyzing the costs and benefits of distributing and consuming goods and services. Most research is concerned with practical applications of economic policy in particular areas such as finance, labor, real estate, or health, to name a few.
The research will help you to understand economic relationships to advise businesses or other organizations. Being able to present these economic and statistical concepts in a meaningful way is important for the research since simply presenting data that no one understands won’t help to implement change in a company.