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Working Paper Series - The Political Economy of Inequality in the Arab Region and Relevant Development Policies



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The Political Economy of Inequality in the Arab Region and Relevant Development Policies


Volume : 0

No : 0

ISSN : WPS0904

Publisher : Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait

Author (s) : Ali Abdel Gadir Ali 

Published Date : 1/1/2009


Contents :
The paper deals with thepolitical economy of inequality in the distribution of consumption expenditurein the Arab region. It argues that the relevant concept of development fordealing with political economy issues is that of development as freedom. Withinsuch concept the paper looks at the nature of the Arab social contracts thatprevailed in the region since independence and up to the mid-1980s. It arguesthat the core nature of these contracts was re-distributional and that theircumulative achievement was the current moderate degree of inequality enjoyed bythe Arab region compared to the world. However, there is preliminary evidenceof a rising degree of inequality in the Arab region, most likely due to theeconomic reform policies pursued by a number of countries in the region. Thistrend raises a number of concerns from a political economy perspectiveincluding the implication of the tolerance towards increasing inequality duringthe early stages of development, and development disasters; inequality traps interms of the interplay of socio-political and economic inequalities; andequality of opportunity. Policies required for dealing with such implicationsare reviewed and found to be equivalent to the type of policies that werepursued by the Arab countries prior to their succumbing to neo-liberal policypackages of the 1980s and 1990s. 

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