Lebanon’s Dysfunctional Political Economy
Using the prospect of a flood of refugees as a bargaining chip in international negotiations, the government is happy to subsist on foreign-exchange reserves while waiting to collect geopolitical rents. Yet there is reason to hope that this strategy, which has already impoverished half the population, will fail.
PARIS – Lebanon’s economy has collapsed. There is little confusion about why or what is needed to save it. The question is why nothing has been done.