Egypt: Enhancing Capacity for Research in Economics

This project developed a partnership between Cairo University’s Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences (DOE-FEPS), and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYSPS) at Georgia State University (GSU).

The overarching goal of the program is to expand the capacity of the DOE-FEPS faculty in economics research and strengthen their outreach capacity in order to serve as a regional hub for teaching, research, and a provider of technical assistance and service in economics. This partnership seeks to enhance the quality of economics teaching and research to serve a variety of stakeholders including academic think-tanks, development agencies, Egyptian government, civil society, private sector and government policy makers.

The broad goal of the partnership dictates an integrated approach focusing on multiple objectives, namely:

• to strengthen the academic capacity of Cairo University’s DOE-FEPS;
• to enhance the capacity of Cairo University’s DOE-FEPS and the FEPS-AYSPS partnership to engage in outreach activities to government, private sector, civil society and academia in Egypt and in the region;
• as a partnership, to engage in applied research and more informed decisions and policymaking through training and capacity building of faculty who will later serve as the trainers of government officials, policymakers, donor agencies, etc.
• to create an international network of experts in support of Egypt’s public policy reform through outreach activities; and
• to integrate appropriate information technology and distance learning techniques in the academic and outreach components of this project.

		Musharraf Cyan Research Assistant Professor of Economics Area of Expertise: Fiscal Decentralization, Tax Reform, Development Planning
		Jorge Martinez-Vasquez Regents Professor of Economics/Director ICePP Area of Expertise: Fiscal Decentralization, Tax Policy
		Sally Wallace Professor of Economics Area of Expertise: Fiscal Decentralization, Tax Policy, Revenue Forecasting, Program Evaluation