David Sims
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789774166686
- eISBN:
- 9781617976544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774166686.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
Egypt has placed its hopes on developing its vast and empty deserts as the ultimate solution to the country’s problems. New cities, new farms, new industrial zones, new tourism resorts, and new ...
More
Egypt has placed its hopes on developing its vast and empty deserts as the ultimate solution to the country’s problems. New cities, new farms, new industrial zones, new tourism resorts, and new development corridors all have been promoted for over half a century to create a modern Egypt, and to pull tens of millions of people away from the increasingly crowded Nile Valley into the desert hinterland. The results, in spite of colossal expenditures and ever-grander government pronouncements, have been meager at best, and today, Egypt’s desert is littered with stalled schemes, abandoned projects, and forlorn dreams. It also remains stubbornly uninhabited. Egypt’s Desert Dreams is the first attempt of its kind to look at Egypt’s desert development in its entirety. It recounts the failures of governmental schemes, analyzes why they have failed, and exposes the main winners of Egypt’s desert projects, as well as the underlying narratives and political necessities behind it, even in the post-revolutionary era. It also shows that all is not lost, and that there are alternative paths that Egypt could take.Less
Egypt has placed its hopes on developing its vast and empty deserts as the ultimate solution to the country’s problems. New cities, new farms, new industrial zones, new tourism resorts, and new development corridors all have been promoted for over half a century to create a modern Egypt, and to pull tens of millions of people away from the increasingly crowded Nile Valley into the desert hinterland. The results, in spite of colossal expenditures and ever-grander government pronouncements, have been meager at best, and today, Egypt’s desert is littered with stalled schemes, abandoned projects, and forlorn dreams. It also remains stubbornly uninhabited. Egypt’s Desert Dreams is the first attempt of its kind to look at Egypt’s desert development in its entirety. It recounts the failures of governmental schemes, analyzes why they have failed, and exposes the main winners of Egypt’s desert projects, as well as the underlying narratives and political necessities behind it, even in the post-revolutionary era. It also shows that all is not lost, and that there are alternative paths that Egypt could take.
Yue Chim Richard Wong
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9789888390625
- eISBN:
- 9789888390373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390625.003.0031
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
Social welfare as a share of government expenditures has risen the most over time, in part because of growing demand from those with such needs: people with disabilities, elderly people without ...
More
Social welfare as a share of government expenditures has risen the most over time, in part because of growing demand from those with such needs: people with disabilities, elderly people without means, troubled teenagers, divorced individuals, drug addicts, and so on. In addition, the politicization of society has increased the voice of organized advocacy groups to seek social welfare handouts from government as a means to gain political support. New policy initiatives currently in the works to help the working poor, coupled with the highly politicized demands for old age social pensions, all threaten to increase government expenditures even further. In conclusion, housing, education, health, and social welfare expenditures as a whole have increased. Every single component of these expenditures can be safely predicted to rise further into the long-term future due to demographic and political forces. Will the economy be able to finance these activities? And if radical changes were made, what will happen to the society? Will there be political consensus on the way forward?Less
Social welfare as a share of government expenditures has risen the most over time, in part because of growing demand from those with such needs: people with disabilities, elderly people without means, troubled teenagers, divorced individuals, drug addicts, and so on. In addition, the politicization of society has increased the voice of organized advocacy groups to seek social welfare handouts from government as a means to gain political support. New policy initiatives currently in the works to help the working poor, coupled with the highly politicized demands for old age social pensions, all threaten to increase government expenditures even further. In conclusion, housing, education, health, and social welfare expenditures as a whole have increased. Every single component of these expenditures can be safely predicted to rise further into the long-term future due to demographic and political forces. Will the economy be able to finance these activities? And if radical changes were made, what will happen to the society? Will there be political consensus on the way forward?
Caitlin Blair
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226126654
- eISBN:
- 9780226194714
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226194714.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
This study investigates the effects of simulating the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with alternately sourced weights on the inflation experience for an average US consumer. The Bureau of Labor ...
More
This study investigates the effects of simulating the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with alternately sourced weights on the inflation experience for an average US consumer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics currently uses household spending data from the Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey to construct expenditure category weights, or “item” weights, in the CPI. The Bureau of Economic Analysis also estimates consumer expenditures, but does so at a national level for publication of Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) in the National Income and Product Accounts. In this chapter, 2005-2010 price indexes that utilize PCE weights instead of CE expenditure weights are compared with the CPI-Urban in order to evaluate current CPI weighting methods. These comparisons show that the annualized growth rate over five years of an adjusted PCE-weighted CPI is slightly lower than that of the CPI-U, while a reweighted index that uses PCE expenditure definitions grows much more quickly than the CPI.Less
This study investigates the effects of simulating the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with alternately sourced weights on the inflation experience for an average US consumer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics currently uses household spending data from the Consumer Expenditure (CE) Survey to construct expenditure category weights, or “item” weights, in the CPI. The Bureau of Economic Analysis also estimates consumer expenditures, but does so at a national level for publication of Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) in the National Income and Product Accounts. In this chapter, 2005-2010 price indexes that utilize PCE weights instead of CE expenditure weights are compared with the CPI-Urban in order to evaluate current CPI weighting methods. These comparisons show that the annualized growth rate over five years of an adjusted PCE-weighted CPI is slightly lower than that of the CPI-U, while a reweighted index that uses PCE expenditure definitions grows much more quickly than the CPI.
