AMMAN - The Arab Spring has failed to expand economic freedom in Jordan as rentierism still persists, a recent book by economist Yusuf Mansur concluded.
In the book, titled "Did the Arab Spring Benefit Economic Freedom in Jordan?" Mansur noted that Jordan's ranking in various international reports which measure economic competitiveness and freedom on a global scale had dropped over the past three years.
The author defines economic freedom as having efficient governments, respect of property rights and freedom of exchange, as individuals are engaged in voluntary transactions.
Rentierism contradicts economic freedom, he wrote, describing Arab countries, including Jordan, as rentier states.
Economists identify a rentier state as one that extracts a significant share of its revenues from rents extracted from international transactions such as oil or mineral exports, foreign military and economic aid, worker remittances, foreign direct investments (FDI) and international tourism.
According to Mansur, rentier states tend to hinder the development of civil society organisations and democracy and to ignore economic issues like competitiveness and economic freedom.
The Jordan Times columnist stresses that FDI and economic aid inflows should be equitably distributed to avoid the risk of increasing income disparities and civil strife.
Mansur's book was published by the Young Entrepreneurs Association and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty.
It was presented last week during a review session attended by more than 70 entrepreneurs, academics, politicians, diplomats and civil society activists.
Jawad Anani, president of the Economic and Social Council, reviewed and debated the book with Mansur and the audience.
Mansur wrote that among the challenges hindering better economic freedoms in Jordan is the growing size of the public sector.
At the session the author said authorities follow the appeasement approach to hire people at the expense of public finance, adding that the government borrows money to pay salaries and not to build needed strategic development projects.
Criticising the government's austerity plans, he said they only reduced the size of funds for capital projects.
"Did the government shrink after the austerity plans? No," he said.
In his book, Mansur lists a number of challenges Jordan has to overcome to boost its economic development.
Among these challenges, he said, is that Jordan's small geographic and population size makes the Kingdom a relatively small market for local producers to operate in.
Geographical location is also a hindrance to development, according to Mansur, who explained that access to only one seaport -- Aqaba -- and being situated in a centre of an unstable region have led to difficulties in strengthening international and regional trade.
The lack of resources, population growth, inequitable distribution of income, corruption, dependence on foreign grants, high taxes, low food security and water scarcity are among other challenges facing economic development in Jordan, the economist noted.
Anani, a leading economist who has held several ministerial posts and served as Royal Court chief, described the study as "an excellent effort", but said its findings need to be researched further.
"One thing is already clear: The Arab Spring has shown that we need a new economic paradigm, which is proactive and gives the market and non-governmental players more leverage," Anani elaborated.
"To build our economic and political future, we need to systematically involve our youths," he added.
Commenting on economic freedom, Anani said wars are the worst enemies of economic freedom.
He explained that many economic decisions in Jordan had been taken in a bid to protect the country's security.
Citing the establishment of the Supply Ministry as a populist move, he explained that governments have to be in control when there are conflicts around that lead to a large influx of refugees -- an issue the book did not cover.
Anani agreed with Mansur that economic freedom in Jordan has not improved over the past three years.
"The obvious conclusion is that economic freedom in Jordan has not improved after the Arab Spring," he said.
© Jordan Times 2013
