The Egyptian Economy in the Twenty-first Century: The Hard Road to Inclusive Prosperity

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Prospects for Egypt's population and Labor Force: 2000 to 2050 / Ragui Assaad -- 2. The Poverty Trap: Why is it Persisting in Egypt? / Osman Mohamed Osman and Heba El Laithy -- 3. Urbanization in Egypt / David Sims -- 4. Street Children in Egypt : Principal Causes and Economic Cost / Karima Korayem -- 5. Is Egypt's Higher Education System Broken? / John Waterbury -- 6. Water Challenges and Recommended Policies / Khaled Abu-Zeid -- 7. The "Trickle-down" Approach : Its Relevance to the Case of Egypt / Gouda Abdel-Khalek -- 8. Human Resource Competitiveness and the Digital Economy / Heba Nassar and Marwa Biltagy -- 9. The "Missing Middle" in Egypt's Enterprises and Its Impact on Economic Growth / Izak Atiyas and Ishac Diwan -- 10. The External Sector : Performance and Issues / Ahmed Ghoneim -- 11. The Natural Gas Sector: Opportunities and Challenges / Noha H.A. Razek -- 12. Fiscal Policies and Issues / Fatma El Ashmawy -- 13. Monetary Policy In Egypt: Medium- and Long-term View / Lahcen Bounader -- 14. Institutional Constraints and Opportunities / Noha El-Mikawy and Mohamed Mohieddin

"The Egyptian Economy in the Twenty-first Century addresses the question of why Egypt, despite possessing a plethora of assets-such as a fertile agriculture, a strategic geographic location, oil and gas deposits, innumerable tourist sites, a labor force prized by regional countries, and a diaspora that remits large amounts of funds-has seldom performed to its economic potential during the last sixty years. Indeed, economic weakness created political weakness, and often exposed the country to foreign diktats. What should the country do to change this state of affairs? Nineteen internationally recognized authorities on the Egyptian economy discuss the critical challenges that the Egyptian economy is likely to face in the next two to three decades, challenges which must be overcome in order to improve the life of Egypt's citizens and to protect the country from external pressures. Their analyses cover population and employment; development strategies; principal macroeconomic issues; development of a digital economy; fiscal and monetary matters; the external sector; poverty and income distribution; the enterprise structure; higher education; water availability; urbanization; institutional performance; and many others." --Provided by publisher.