The Economic Blunders Behind the Arab Revolutions

From the Wall Street Journal online: 

....Half a century of socialist mismanagement has left the two Arab states [Egypt and Syria] unable to meet the basic needs of their people, with economies so damaged that they may be past the point of recovery in our lifetimes.

This is the crucial background to understanding the state failure in Egypt and civil war in Syria. It may not be within America's power to reverse their free falls; the best scenario for the U.S. is to manage the chaos as best it can.

Of Egypt's 90 million people, 70% live on the land. Yet the country produces barely half of Egyptians' total caloric consumption. The poorer half of the population survives on subsidized food imports that stretch a budget deficit close to a sixth of the country's GDP, about double the ratio in Greece...

Egyptians are ill-prepared for the modern world economy.

Forty-five percent are illiterate.

Nearly all married Egyptian women suffer genital mutilation.

One-third of marriages are between cousins, a hallmark of tribal society.

Only half of the 51 million Egyptians between the ages of 15 and 64 are counted in the government's measure of the labor force.

If Egypt counted its people the way the U.S. does, its unemployment rate would be well over 40% instead of the official 13% rate.

Nearly one-third of college-age Egyptians register for university but only half graduate, and few who do are qualified for employment in the 21st century.

That is the tragic outcome of 60 years of economic policies designed for political control rather than productivity....
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Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323740804578597502771627238.html