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In RealTime posts, PIIE senior staff and colleagues discuss the fast-moving economic news, financial developments, and public policy choices confronting the United States and the world.
The announcement on August 15 that International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde will visit Cairo on August 22 has created considerable speculation that an IMF program will be implemented soon. While it could be merely a courtesy visit—Lagarde was after all invited by the government of Egypt and could hardly refuse without sending [...]
Over this past weekend Egypt held presidential election runoffs with official results due on Thursday, June 21. But with more than 95 percent of votes counted, the Muslim Brotherhood claims their candidate Mohamed Morsi is the winner. Meanwhile, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued a constitutional annex to its March 30 military [...]
I first met Mike Mussa in 1976 when we were both at the London School of Economics—he was visiting from Chicago for a year. His brilliance and sense of humor were clearly evident then, and only became sharper over the course of time. Later, in 1991, he became my boss in the Research Department at [...]
The killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on the night of May 2 has raised a host of questions about the implications of the operation for Pakistan. First, for the United States the main question is how the most wanted terrorist in the world could have hidden "in plain sight" in Pakistan for [...]
The uprising that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak has created considerable uncertainty over the future of economic policies and reforms in Egypt. Will the political transition lead to a reform-minded government or a populist one that will try to undo the recent economic reforms undertaken by the Mubarak regime? There are certainly [...]
Protests in the Middle East continue to rage even in Egypt and Tunisia, where the ruling regimes have been toppled. Throughout the region, activists and opposition leaders are demanding an overhaul of political systems. Though generalizations are difficult, it is clear that—whether the unrest is in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Oman, or elsewhere—the [...]
The demonstrations and the more recent violent clashes between the pro and anti-Mubarak factions in Tahrir Square continue unabated despite President Mubarak’s announcement on February 1 that he would not seek reelection in September. (It is also presumed that his son Gamal Mubarak will not run for the presidency.) The Mubarak concession may well have [...]
The floods in Pakistan have affected one-fifth of the country (an area roughly the size of England) and engulfed large parts of all four provinces—Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly the North West Frontier Province). The vast scope of the damage makes this a truly national disaster bearing long-term economic and political consequences for [...]
As oil prices have begun to rise in 2009, the question is whether the world is in for another oil price spike similar to the one in early 2008 that could choke off the nascent recovery of the world economy. To judge whether such an outcome is in the cards, one has to look closer [...]