Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- 1. Overview -- The Need for a New Form of Development -- A Knowledge-Based Development Process -- Readiness for the Knowledge Economy -- The Economic and Institutional Regime -- Human Resources -- Innovation -- Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure -- New Visions and Strategies -- 2. The Challenge: Changing the Growth Model -- A Distorted Development Process -- Insufficient Growth in an Increasingly Competitive Environment -- The Need to Change the Development Model -- 3. Knowledge and Economic Development: Recent Trends -- The Knowledge-Based Economy -- Key Pillars of Knowledge-Based Economies -- The Knowledge Economy and Economic Performance -- Guidelines and Lessons from International Experience -- A New Mindset for Government Action -- 4. MENA Countries' Readiness for the Knowledge Economy: A Snapshot -- Overall Knowledge Economy Readiness -- Economic Incentives and Institutional Framework -- Education -- Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure -- Innovation -- 5. Social and Economic Frameworks -- Power and Social Structures -- Investment Climate -- Trade and Economic Integration -- Attitudes to Knowledge, Innovation, and Management -- 6. Education and Training -- Cultural and Linguistic Issues -- Education and Social Expectations -- Training and Job Markets -- An Education Strategy within a Lifelong Learning Perspective -- Increasing the Efficacy of Educational and Training Institutions -- 7. Innovation and Research -- Poorly Developed Innovation Systems -- R&D Institutions -- Innovation Climate in Industry -- Scientific and Technological Performance -- Establishing a Coherent Innovation Policy -- Conclusion -- 8. Telecommunications and the Information Infrastructure -- Telecommunications and Related Policies -- Policy Trends -- The Internet.

Providing Access for the Many Modern Forms of Communication -- Building Human Capacity for Telecommunications -- 9. Visions and Strategies -- Selected Country Experiences -- MENA Countries -- Some Guiding Principles -- Regional and International Cooperation -- 10. Conclusion -- Appendix: Benchmarking MENA Countries' Readiness for the Knowledge Economy -- References -- Documents Presented at the World Bank Forum on Knowledge for Development in the Middle East and North Africa, September 9-12, 2002, Marseilles, France -- Boxes -- 2.1. Why Growth Performances Differ-Total Factor Productivity -- 3.1. Challenges to Economic Theory -- 3.2. Trends in Knowledge and Innovation in the OECD Area -- 3.3. Variables Selected for Knowledge Economy Benchmarking -- 3.4. Ireland, the Celtic Tiger -- 3.5. India, from the Silicon Valley of South Asia to a Global Knowledge Superpower -- 3.6. Chile-Knowledge, Innovation and New Comparative Advantages -- 4.1. Multicriteria Analysis and Variables Selected for Knowledge Economy Benchmarking -- 5.1. Bureaucratic Obstacles to Entrepreneurship -- 5.2. Islamic Banking -- 5.3. Trade Integration and Comparative Advantages between Lebanon and Syria -- 6.1. The Reform of Professional Training in Tunisia -- 7.1. MENA Success Stories in Innovation -- 8.1. Morocco: Successful Regulation Enables Growth of Telecommunications -- 9.1. SMExchange -- Figures -- 2.1. Productivity Comparisons in the Textile and Clothing Sector, MENA Countries -- 2.2. Productivity Comparisons in the Textile and Clothing Sector, Other Countries -- 3.1. The Knowledge Economy and GDP per Capita -- 3.2. Knowledge-Economy and Competitiveness Ranking -- 4.1. Knowledge Economy Readiness: MENA Countries -- 4.2. Countries' Relative Position in the Knowledge Economy and GDP Per Inhabitant -- 4.3. Economic Incentives and Institutional Framework: MENA Countries.

4.4. Economic Incentives and Institutional Framework: The MENA Region's Relative Performance -- 4.5. Education: MENA Countries -- 4.6. Education: The MENA Region's Relative Performance -- 4.7. ICT Infrastructure: MENA Countries -- 4.8. ICT: The MENA Region's Relative Performance -- 4.9. Innovation: MENA Countries -- 4.10. Innovation: The MENA Region's Relative Performance -- A.1. Method of Classification: Example with the Criterion of Literacy -- A.2. Knowledge Economy Readiness Assessments for the MENA Region and for Selected MENA Countries -- Tables -- 2.1. Selected Development Indicators by Main World Bank Regions -- 3.1. Liberalization, Modernization, and Knowledge Economy Mindsets -- 5.1. Indicators concerning Women in MENA and Other World Regions -- 5.2. Good Governance Indicators -- 6.1. Need for Economic Growth and Growth of the Labor Supply, 1990-99 -- 8.1. Cost of Communications, Line Density by Country, 2000 -- 8.2. MENA Region: Teledensity and Internet Penetration -- 9.1. Share of Oil Sector in Dubai's GDP, Selected Years, 1995-2005.