2024
Project: Regional disparities and inclusive territorial development in Tunisia: The South-East region
Dr. Nessrine Abbassi
( Faculty of Economics and Management , the University of Sfax- FSEG/ Tunisia )
Nessrine Abbassi holds a PhD in Economics (awarded in 2022) from the University of Sfax- FSEG (Faculty of Economics and Management). Currently, she is a member of the economics and rural societies laboratory at the Institut des régions arides de Médenine (IRA, Médenine) & University of Gabes. Her PhD thesis focused on regional disparities and inclusive growth in Tunisia, utilizing a spatial econometrics approach. Prior to her doctoral studies, she graduated with a research master’s degree in regional development economics from the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales de Tunis (ESSECT) in 2014. (She also previously held a position as a contract professor at the University of Gabes.)
Project IRF II: Inequality & Mobility
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem of those left behind and highlighted the major inequalities in regional development that characterize the Tunisian landscape.
At the same time, territorial research to understand the role of places and their specificities, often small, sparsely populated areas, can provide a framework for inclusive development.
The aim of our research project is to characterize regional disparities throughout Tunisia, and in the South-East region, in terms of inclusive territorial development. This concept, which is particularly suited to the regional fabric, contributes to research aimed at the regional revitalization of neglected territories, the identification of disparities and the redefinition of new ways of conceiving the role of space and place, through a place-based spatial approach. To do this, using geographical data from the regional development index for Tunisia’s 24 regions, this study aims to go beyond mere discourse on the issue of regional disparities, using the method of spatial analysis.