Bread Subsidies in Egypt: Choosing Social Stability or Fiscal Responsibility

Abstract

Bread subsidies contribute greatly to social stability in Egypt, yet there exist academic and political tendencies to abandon the system in the interest of market-based efficiency. This represents a shift in contemporary economic ideology historically focused upon maintaining calm after Cairo's 1977 bread riots. Further, international pressure to `liberalize` the Egyptian economy paradoxically conflicts with Western desires to suppress religious fundamentalism in the region. These incongruities are largely ignored by Egyptian and Western research.