However, something I stress in my macro class, is that statistics don't seem to bare a lot of that out - particularly when you compare Egypt to the Untied States (where there is no US Spring).
Egypt has less income inequality as measured by GINI (the data is a decade or two old but I don't think that affects the analysis much):
The Egyptian economy, additionally, has grown by 25% as measured by GDP per capita from 2000-2008 - before the Arab Spring. During this same time, the US has grown by a measly 9%.
The unemployment rate in Egypt in 2009 leading up to the Arab Spring was 9%, which was actually less than the unemployment rate in the United States during the same time-frame. Even looking at just youth unemployment - the rates in Egypt are not really that out of line compared to its neighbors or even the United States.
So, I for one simply don't buy into the fact that the Egypt uprising is economic. It is far more likely that it is more about political freedoms than anything else. I think that that is supported by the new uprisings taking place - which are stemming from the government failing to create legitimacy among the people.
Either that or this begs the question - why aren't WE in uprising?
