Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:27:53.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Income and Consumption in Egypt, 1886/1887 to 1937

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Bent Hansen
Bent Hansen
Affiliation:
Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The attempt to estimate per capita income for Egypt from 1886/1887 to 1937, presented in this paper, is part of an effort to evaluate British colonial economic policyduring the period of the British occupation of Egypt. For such an evaluation national income estimates covering the whole period would be very helpful. National income estimates worth the name, however, go back only to 1935–1939, and for years earlier than the 1950s they are of very poor quality. Compared with so many other lessdeveloped countries, Egypt has relatively rich statistics extending backward to the decades before World War I; but they do not really suffice for building up a national income series from either the production or the expenditure side, and from the income side there is hardly any information. In this situation, which both development economists and economic historians know only too well, the problem is how to make maximal use of existing production and expenditure indicators in order to come out with some idea of what per capita income developments may have looked like. Apart from gauging per capita income in Egypt during half a century before World War II, the paper serves more generally to illustrate a methodology that may find application for other countries.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 1979 , pp. 27 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anis, M. A. (1950). A Study of the National Income of Egypt, L'Egypte Contemporaine (Cairo), Nos.261–262.Google Scholar
Annuaire Statistique. Cairo: Ministry of Finance. Various issues.Google Scholar
Ayrout, H. H. (1963) [1938]. The Egyptian Peasant. Beacon Press, Boston.Google Scholar
Baer, G. (1969). Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Crouchley, A. E. (1936). The Investment of Foreign Capital in Egyptian Companies and Public Debt. Cairo: Ministry of Finance, Technical Paper no. 2.Google Scholar
Hansen, B. (1968). The Distributive Shares in Egyptian Agriculture, 1897–1961, International Economic Review, 9, 2: 175–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, B. (1976). Income and Consumption in Egypt. Berkeley: University of California, Institute ofInternational Studies, Working Paper No. I.Google Scholar
Hansen, B. and Lucas, E. (1978). Egyptian Foreign Trade, 1885–1961: A New Set of Trade Indices, Journal of European Economic History, 7 (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Hansen, B. and Wattleworth, M. (1978).Agricultural Output and Consumption, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 9, 4: 449–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issawi, C. (1961). Egypt since 1800: A Study in Lopsided Development, Journal of Economic History, 21, 1:1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, J. W. (1966). The Economics of Agricultural Development. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London.Google Scholar
Mostafa, M. D. and Mahmoud, M. W. (1964). Analytic Study of the Relationship between Consumption Expenditure onDifferent Groups of Commodities and Total Annual Consumption Expenditure for the Household Sector. Urban and Rural Regions. Cairo: I.N.P., MemoNo. 497.Google Scholar
Owen, E. R. J. (1969). Cotton and the Egyptian Economy, 1820–1914. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Shearer, W. V. (1910). The Weaving Industry in Asyout,L'Egypte Contemporaine, No. 1.Google Scholar
Wattleworth, M. (1975). Report on the Construction of Agricultural Indexes for Egypt. Berkeley: University of California, Institute of International Studies, 09 15. Unpublished.Google Scholar
Willcocks, W. (1899), Egyptian Irrigation. 2d ed. Spoon Ltd., London.Google Scholar