jordan pulse -

By Prof. Khalid Wassef Al-Wazani

Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government

A few days ago, I joined a group of experts and researchers at a seminar organized by the American University in Cairo, school of Global Affairs & Public Policy, to discuss the recently published Oxford Handbook of the Egyptian Economy. As rich as the discussions were, covering the evolution of the Egyptian economy, its challenges and its future prospects, one question remained on my mind throughout the seminar: Why should every Arab economy not have a book of its own?

The publication of this volume is more than a welcome addition to the Egyptian and Arab economic literature. Nor should it be viewed simply as another book about the economy of a major Arab country such as Egypt. In my view, it carries a broader message worthy of consideration across the Arab world: Why should every Arab economy not have an authoritative scholarly reference that documents its experience, dissects its challenges, analyses its transformations and looks ahead to its future? The Egyptian experience deserves attention. The Handbook brings together 69 experts, researchers and practitioners across 43 chapters organized into six parts, addressing macroeconomics and fiscal and monetary policies, sectors and markets, human and social development, the environment and urbanization, governance, as well as major trends and future shocks. More importantly, it does not merely seek to document the past. It asks a forward-looking question: What is required to unlock the full development potential of the Egyptian economy in a manner that is more inclusive, sustainable and resilient to shocks?

This is where the real value of such works lies. A national economy is not merely a collection of figures on GDP, public debt, unemployment, inflation or investment. It is an accumulated economic memory of policies, successes, failures, crises, reforms, and institutional and social transformations. If that memory is not systematically documented and examined, an important part of a nation's economic knowledge is lost. New generations of economists and policymakers may then find themselves rediscovering the same problems—and perhaps repeating the same mistakes. The Egyptian Handbook should therefore not remain an isolated experience. We need a Handbook of the Jordanian Economy, and others for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, Tunisia—and, ultimately, every Arab economy.

What is needed is not promotional publications that merely showcase achievements, but independent scholarly references that bring together leading economists, researchers and experts from within these countries and beyond. Such works should examine economies as they truly are: their strengths and weaknesses, historical transformations, structural imbalances, fiscal and monetary policies, labor markets, productivity, competitiveness, promising sectors, and their position within the emerging global economic order. The value of such an undertaking goes beyond documentation and narrative. It extends to the making of public policy itself. Good policy begins with sound diagnosis, and sound diagnosis requires accumulated knowledge, reliable data, rigorous research and a critical assessment of past experience. Such books can therefore serve as bridges connecting universities and research centers with governments and the private sector, while providing valuable references for policymakers, investors, researchers and students alike. Perhaps we should go one step further. These national initiatives could eventually evolve into an integrated Arab intellectual project culminating in a Handbook of Arab Economies—one that does not treat Arab economies merely as separate cases, but also explores their similarities and differences, common structural challenges and genuine opportunities for economic integration.

The Arab region is hosts more than 450 million people, possesses enormous natural, financial and human resources, and occupies an exceptional geographic position. Yet it still needs to build a cumulative Arab economic memory that enables it to better understand its own experience and define its place amid the profound transformations reshaping the global economy. Nor should such publications appear only once every few decades. Economies today are changing at an unprecedented pace. Artificial intelligence, digital transformation, digital currencies, climate change, the new economic geography, and transformations in trade, energy and labor are all reshaping national economies. These reference works should therefore be updated periodically, perhaps every five or ten years, so that they become a kind of knowledge-based balance sheet for the national economy: What has been achieved? Where has it fallen short? What has changed? And where is it heading?

The Oxford Handbook of the Egyptian Economy has provided an important service to Egypt. But it may offer an even greater service to the wider Arab world if we recognize the message that extends beyond its pages: Countries that seek to shape their economic future must first understand their economies, document their experiences, and allow scholarship to examine them critically and draw lessons from them. If economics is, in one sense, about the effective management of resources and choices, then economic knowledge itself is a strategic resource, no less important than capital, natural resources or infrastructure. Perhaps the time has come for every Arab economy to have its own book -and, ultimately, for the Arab economy to have its great book as well.

Prof. Khalid W. Al Wazani