L. Assouad - Understanding the Lebanese protests through the prism of extreme inequalities (January 2020)

In a few words

Massive anti-governmental protests erupted in Lebanon last October. They seem partly fueled by a specific economic situation: an extreme concentration of wealth and income, with almost no equivalent in the world. Protesters are calling for an end to the corrupt political system kept in place by an elite that has for decades, according to them, denied the majority of the population economic opportunities and the ability to make ends meet. This is not surprising if we look at the data.

In a recent study, Lydia Assouad (PSE/EHESS/WIL) has collected the only income tax records data available in the region, and combined them with household surveys and national accounts to produce the first estimates of the national income distribution in Lebanon. She finds that income is extremely concentrated, with the top 1% of the adult population receiving 25% of national income on average. More strikingly, the richest 0.1 percent of the Lebanese population, around 3,700 people, earns as much as the bottom 50 percent, almost 2 million people—both equivalent to one tenth of national income. The richest group largely overlaps with the political class. This social polarization has exacerbated the disconnect between the ruling elite and “the rest” of the population, at the origin of the protests. Shi‘a from the southern city of Tyre and Sunnis from the northern city of Tripoli have found common ground: the political elite extracts large rents at their expense.

References of the academic paper

« Rethinking the Lebanese economic miracle: The extreme concentration of income and wealth in Lebanon 2005-2014 » WID.world Working Paper 2017/14

Author

Lydia Assouad, PhD Student PSE/EHESS, research fellow WIL - personal website

Press review

• The Washington Post, 19/10/2019 - Here’s what the protests in Lebanon and Iraq are really about. People are uniting in their demands for change...

• Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 21/10/2019 - Lebanon has many billionaires and a large mountain of debt. Under massive street pressure, the Lebanese government has passed a comprehensive reform package. However, to regain the confidence of the population, the richer elite would have to make much greater sacrifices...

• France Culture, 22/10/2019 - Les manifestations au Liban analysées sous le prisme des inégalités sociales. Lydia Assouad, doctorante à l’Ecole d’Economie de Paris et chercheuse associée au World Inequality Lab, estime que le mouvement social qui dure depuis cinq jours, par-delà les clivages confessionnels et malgré les annonces de Saad Hariri, est largement dû aux inégalités sociales...

• The Washington Post, 22/10/2019 - Lebanon’s economic crisis didn’t happen overnight. So how did it get to this point? Here’s why the government’s latest response doesn’t meet protesters’ demands...

• De Standaard, 22/10/2019 - Lebanese demonstrators win first battle. Following massive street protests, the Lebanese government has accepted major reforms, including a halving of ministerial salaries. The demonstrators are not impressed...

• The New York Times, 23/10/2019 - Lebanon Protests Unite Sects in Demanding New Government. Lebanon’s protests, the largest since its independence, have moved from fury over the economy and corruption to demands for a new political system...

• Quartz, 23/10/2019 - Lebanon’s extreme income inequality is fueling its huge protests. Lebanon is the fifth-most indebted nation in the world relative to GDP, according to the IMF. Needing more revenue to service these daunting debts, last week the government introduced a tax on WhatsApp users...

• Trouw, 24/10/2019 - Lebanon is finished with the wealthy political elite. Massive protests have been putting Lebanon down for a week. The once divided country unites against a wealthy political elite. "All politicians must be brought to justice"...

• Al Jazeera, 25/10/2019 - Lebanon needs to free its economy from international lenders. International lenders are as responsible for the growing inequality in Lebanon as the country’s own political elite...

• Le Grand Continent, 25/10/2019 - La cause des protestations au Liban : l’extrême inégalité. Les protestations massives qui ont éclaté au Liban après l’annonce par le gouvernement de deux nouvelles mesures fiscales régressives ont leur origine profonde dans les niveaux extrêmement élevés d’inégalité dans le pays, qui durent depuis longtemps...

• L’Orient-Le Jour, 26/10/2019 - Les inégalités, moteur de la révolte populaire au Liban. Mobilisée en masse sur tout le territoire, la population libanaise s’est unie depuis plus d’une semaine autour d’une double revendication...

• Le Monde, 08/11/2019 - Une révolte contre le « capitalisme de connivence ». La proximité entre les dirigeants économiques et les politiques s’est amplifiée, donnant le sentiment aux populations qu’elles sont laissées de côté au profit des élites...

• Le Monde, 18/11/2019 - L’économie rentière du Liban a engendré des niveaux d’inégalité extrêmes. Dans une tribune au « Monde », Lydia Assouad, spécialiste des inégalités au Liban, estime que si le mouvement de protestation actuel dépasse les divisions religieuses, c’est que les Libanais ont découvert ce qu’ils avaient en commun : leur exploitation par les plus nantis...

• L’Orient-Le Jour, 21/11/2019 - La « révolution » libanaise au prisme de la démographie. Révolte ? Révolution ? Peu importe. L’essentiel est de comprendre ce qui se passe dans la rue, et pourquoi maintenant...

• Cumhuriyet, 22/11/2019 - Will Lebanon gain ’independence’? There is a "bottom-up" pressure for change in Lebanon. Can the "Lebanese", who have not been able to gain "independence" for 76 years, now be able to at least be fully Lebanese?...

• Orient XXI, 27/11/2019 - Liban. Pour une répudiation révolutionnaire de la dette. Et si l’État libanais cessait de payer les intérêts de sa dette ?...

• Zeit Online, 27/11/2019 - Mr Salame and the big bluff. Lebanon is on the verge of a national bankruptcy. Is the crisis-tested head of the central bank himself responsible for the misery this time?...

• The New York Times, 02/12/2019 - The Great Lebanese Ponzi Scheme. The country is without doubt on the precipice of disaster...

• The New York Review of Books, 02/12/2019 - The Lebanese Street Asks: ‘Which Is Stronger, Sect or Hunger?’ In mid-November, when protests against Lebanon’s venal, incompetent, and bankrupt government had already been taking place for three weeks, President Michel Aoun dismissed the demonstrators...

• El País, 06/12/2019 - Young people’s rejection of sectarian rules and other keys to understanding the protests in Lebanon. After seven weeks of demonstrations, the country is sinking into economic crisis and facing increasing violence...