The Economics of the Arab Spring

Adeel Malik and Bassem Awadallah

World Development, 2013, vol. 45, issue C, 296-313

Abstract: A singular failure of the Arab world is the absence of a private sector that is independent, competitive, and integrated with global markets. This paper argues that private sector development is both a political and regional challenge. In so far as the private sector generates incomes that are independent of the rent streams controlled by the state, it can pose a direct political challenge. It is also a regional challenge, since fragmented markets deny scale economies to firms and entrench the power of insiders. We argue that overcoming regional economic barriers constitutes the single most important collective action problem facing the region since the fall of Ottoman Empire.

Keywords: Arab spring; private sector; fragmentation; protectionism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (62)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:45:y:2013:i:c:p:296-313

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.12.015

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