Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: Egypt. By Bent Hansen and Karim Nashashibi. New York: Columbia University Press. 1975. XXXV +358 pp.(Published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, New York).

Abstract

The book under review is one of a series of studies conducted under the auspices of the National Bureau of Economic Research. The primary object was the empirical exploration of a classical doctrine that trade is an engine of growth. The book consists of three major parts. In part one analysis of the Egyptian trade regimes at an aggregate level, from World War II to the Sixties, is presented in five chapters. Chapter 1 outlines Egypt's foreign trade, economic development and political characteristics in a historical perspective. After discussing ninety years of free trade it moves on to explain how Egypt's industrial sector expanded through protection and the increased demand resulting from the outbreak of World War II. Thereafter, during the Nasser regime the economy underwent a metamorphosis, namely, nationalization of all industries, finance and trade. Consequently, by the end of the Sixties the public sector's share in gross dome¬stic product and investment was as high as 50 percent and 90 perecent. respectively.