• Egypt's underground economy was the nation's biggest employer. The legal private sector employed 6.8 million people and the public sector employed 5.9 million, while 9.6 million people worked in the extralegal sector.
• As far as real estate is concerned, 92% of Egyptians hold their property without normal legal title.
• We estimated the value of all these extralegal businesses and property, rural as well as urban, to be $248 billion—30 times greater than the market value of the companies registered on the Cairo Stock Exchange and 55 times greater than the value of foreign direct investment in Egypt since Napoleon invaded—including the financing of the Suez Canal and the Aswan Dam. (Those same extralegal assets would be worth more than $400 billion in today's dollars.)
For the past couple of weeks there has been talk of political revolution in Eygpt, but little mention of real evolution. The market evolution in Egypt is thriving and will still continue when the pro democracy demonstrations stop. Although I applaud their efforts, the real revolution in the streets. The individuals selling produce at their food stands, the individuals who provide security from the looters for families and businesses. The individuals transgressing without the consent of the state. With as many transactions that are done in the Eygptian black market their is no need for the institution of government.
No comments:
Post a Comment