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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 recent overthrow of President Mubarak offers great hope for Egypt’s future political development. But the challenge of economic transformation will be no less important, and arguably as difficult. This challenge is viewed as one of achieving greater globalization and a greater role for markets inside Egypt. The more fundamental challenge, however, is different. Some [...]
World leaders are calling for Hosni Mubarak to either resign or to institute “political and economic” reform that will meet the demands of the demonstrators. Such calls show a large degree of ignorance about the needed economic reforms and the fact that increasing political participation may pose obstacles to reforms. While the maintenance of deeply [...]
Whoever emerges on top of the unfolding political crisis in Egypt, there is little doubt that the country is in need of fresh economic policies as well as fresh leadership. One year ago, we argued in Reengaging Egypt: Options for US-Egypt Economic Relations that the United States should pursue programs that help Egypt "create a better [...]
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 [...]
As poor countries go, Egypt is not in the bottom rank even among nations in the Arab world. Measured by such conventional indicators as the percentage of population living on less than $2 a day, Egypt’s poverty is not high by international standards. Incomes have steadily risen and progress on life expectancy, infant mortality, years [...]
The overthrow of Tunisia’s longstanding Ben Ali dictatorship, sparked when 26-year-old vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest after his business was confiscated for lack of approved documents, has led many to wonder if these events may be a harbinger of the region’s future. Lost in the descriptions of Tunisia’s disaffected youth is [...]
Presumably the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are currently locked in negotiations regarding the exact terms that will be attached to a “bailout” for Dubai World. We’ll never know the details but if—as seems likely—the final deal involves creditors taking some sort of hit (perhaps getting 75 cents in the dollar at the end [...]
On May 27, 2009, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid agreed to develop a “Plan for a Strategic Partnership” that would “deepen and broaden trade and investment relations.” They directed senior trade officials to develop a program in 90 days to implement the plan. This accord [...]