Abstract
This paper analyses the economic challenges facing Egypt in the post-Mubarak period, demonstrating the ways in which economic policy choices over the 2000s have contributed to the economic and social outcomes witnessed in the run up to the 2011 uprisings. The article investigates three specific policy areas and demonstrates their role in reducing employment opportunities, eroding wages and facilitating the creation of an increasingly unequal economic and social structure in Egypt. The three policy areas addressed by the article are (i) the general misplaced fiscal focus on expenditure-reduction rather than revenue-enhancement and the lack of progressive revenue growth; (ii) the manipulation and use of subsidies in Egypt to appease the populous instead of fostering employment generation; (iii) the failure to adequately promote employment-intensive investment.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Terry McKinley, Elisa Van Waeyenberge, Hassan Hakimian and Adam Hanieh for comments.
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©2014 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Economic Policies, Structural Change and the Roots of the “Arab Spring” in Egypt
- What to Smooth: Rate of Interest or the Foreign Exchange? Turkish Monetary Policy under Turbulent Times
- Income Elasticity and the Gender Gap: A Challenging MDG for the MENA Countries
- Financial Services and the GATS in the GCC: Problems and Prospects
- Book Review
- Alessandro Romagnoli and Luisa Mengoni: The Economic Development Process in the Middle East and North Africa
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Economic Policies, Structural Change and the Roots of the “Arab Spring” in Egypt
- What to Smooth: Rate of Interest or the Foreign Exchange? Turkish Monetary Policy under Turbulent Times
- Income Elasticity and the Gender Gap: A Challenging MDG for the MENA Countries
- Financial Services and the GATS in the GCC: Problems and Prospects
- Book Review
- Alessandro Romagnoli and Luisa Mengoni: The Economic Development Process in the Middle East and North Africa