Data Visualization

Blog of the Data Visualization & Communication Course at OSB-AUB

“This is my favorite part about analytics: Taking boring flat data and bringing it to life through visualization” John Tukey

National Debt & Population Income

National Debt & Population Income

by | Apr 15, 2022 | Generic, Visualization

Does a Country’s Borrowing Policy Affect its Population’s Income level?

The Case of Lebanon

 

DOLLAR? LBP?       

WHAT’S THE EXCHANGE RATE TODAY?

DISCOUNTING CHECKS? AT WHAT RATE?

WHAT????     20%????

THIS MEANS I’M LOSING 80% OF MY MONEY!!!

I WAS DOING OK BUT NOW I CAN BARELY MAKE ENDS MEET…  

 

This has unfortunately been the sad reality that
theLebanese people have been living for since
October of 2019.

 

WHY?

 

Because a Banking | Financial | Currency | Crisis

Made a Huge Bubble Burst!                                             

 

 

BUT HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Lebanon has had a budget deficit for over 20 years
and has been borrowing from external parties
for as long as we can remember.

So, as Lebanese citizens, we are born indebted.

 

A country’s national debt affects its population’s income level:

  • Growing debt has a direct effect on economic opportunities

  • If high levels of debt crowd out private investments, workers would have less to jobs do and therefore earn lower wages

Countries with LOWER DEBT exhibit HIGHER INCOME levels per capita.

 

SO HOW HAS LEBANON’S DEBT BEEN CHANGING OVER TIME?

 

WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE THINGS BETTER?

Potential Solutions include but are not limited to:

  • Supporting Production and Services Sectors leading to more Job Creation and eventually More Wages

  • Improving Trade Agreements leads to more exports which would Reduce Budget Deficits and make the country economically healthier

  • Attracting Foreign Direct Investments by providing a healthy capital market (ex: improving Reporting Practices) which leads to More Investments & More economic opportunities, More Jobs and eventually More wages

 

IS THERE PROOF?

                                            

Countries with Open Trade Policies seem to have higher income levels

 

Countries with Updated Reporting Practices also have higher income levels

SO, WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDATIONS?

STOP borrowing from international Agencies

CONTROL High National Debt Levels

 

Implement Policies to boost the economy

The Lebanese Phoenix

The Lebanese Phoenix

by | May 5, 2020 | Visualization

My morning dark coffee was mixed lately with the sorrowful news regarding the collapse of the Lebanese economy. People are losing their jobs, their purchasing power, and even their hope to rise again. I felt for a couple of times that we are powerless and it’s the time to accept that hope is only a way to package the melancholic truth.

In my attempt to find any light inside the deep dark hole that we are inside, I remembered the metaphor of Lebanese phoenix that I heard about during the 2006 July war. Phoenix is the bird who can arise from the aches according to Greek mythology. Beirut, the capital of the old country, like the phoenix, was rebuilt more than seven times according to legend.  So, to strengthen the glimpse of hope with actual reality, I searched for a recent stage where Lebanon was rising.  I surprised when I found that between 1950 and 1974, Lebanon was in a golden stage with a GPD per capita is greater than many developed counties nowadays!  So, my current concern becomes while drinking my morning coffee is how we can make the Lebanese phoenix rise again?

Note: I created this graph using tableau software based on the data from Maddison Project Database 2018.