Publications

The paper looks at the evolution of public finance in a select number of MENA countries over the past 50 years. The review covers the size of government, how it is financed, and the composition of expenditures and revenue. The size of government expenditures has swung dramatically over time, moving from an average in the region of over 50% of GDP in the 1980s to about 25% of GDP in the 2000s. We evaluates how such changes were implemented over time and assess the current fiscal situation in light of the inheritance of the past. We also evaluate the extent to which these trends correspond to the various political economy stories used to characterize the past and the lead-up to the uprisings of 2011.