The Economics of Iraq

Meticulously researched and written by Dr Amer K. Hirmis the book takes readers 6000 years back to early Mesopotamian polity, culture, and religious codes which shaped the economy, and continue to shape much of the body of Iraq's polity, economy and society today. Economic inefficiency, inequality and lack of sufficient employment are common threads that run throughout Mesopotamian/Iraqi economic history. The persistence of poverty, high unemployment, conscious discrimination against women, and a polity dictating blind allegiance and obedience from the subjects to the ruler, denied the Iraqis achieving economic development, the ultimate aim of which is the sustained improvement of the well-being of the people. Even when economic growth was attained, it was desperately non-inclusive. With a novel approach to economic development, this book examines Iraq's economy over the past 100 years. It establishes the historical roots in the consumption patterns, nature of the producers, the economic structure, trade, monetary and fiscal policy and resource allocation. In all these areas the echoes from the ancient past are striking. The principles of Sumerian taxes are still applied in present-day Iraq. The book proposes a set of conditions, which will need to be created for Iraq to achieve economic development and functional democracy, in the distant future.

Dr Amer K. Hirmis is a practitioner economist and town planner. Over the past 30 years, Amer has worked as an economic advisor for a number of private and public sector organisations in the UK, and on major strategic master planning projects in London and the Gulf states. During 2009-11, Amer worked as Senior Development Planning Advisor to the Ministry of Planning - Iraq, as part of a programme of 'reconstruction and peace-building' funded by the 'donor countries.' Amer practices economics and town planning in the UK.