Lebanese Innovations

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Back from Beirut...

The traffic is out of control, people claim that it is because the city has now several working traffic lights. Here is Dani Rodrik on traffic lights and institutions.
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Paul Romer

On Charter Cities (my Lebanese friends will understand why they need a moteur)

Here is CB on the subject

An interview to Romer here

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The Lebanese Madoff

Here: From cousin Amal

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Maids (at the pool) in Lebanon

...right as you’re about to jump in the pool, the resort manager approaches and tells you to stay out of the water because “people are not used to the sight of workers swimming.” .... at least one resort Asian and African workers are allowed to swim in the sea but not in the pool, because “not all people like maids to swim with them in the water.”

The full article is here

Thanks to EJ (AKA, the "Z")

Older posts on the same subject: here; here; and here.

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Restaurant prices

Prices of the buffet at Massaya (Here is the menu with prices):

• Adults: $33;
• Children between 15-10: $20;
• Children between 9-4: $15;
• Nannies: $20!!!

Micro 101 question: Why do nannies pay less?
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prices

Citizenship in Lebanon

Here
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Top travel destinations for 2009

According to the NYT (thanks to Nada for sending). I have been to 15 out of 44. Dainlaws will be happy to see that Beirut is Nr 1 (Beirut is indeed wonderful, but please don't go there for the farmers' market, SiL Nadine loves it but you would be disappointed).
However, I don't really trust this ranking. Too many places in the US (10 out of 44, including Dallas and Buffalo!!!), only two in Italy, and only one in France (and it's not Paris, which should be included in any travel list in any time of the year in every year of the last 3 centuries). So, you really think that a Penn farm is better than Paris, or that Buffalo (nr 37) is just a little bit less interesting than the whole of India (Nr 35). Or Dallas better than Rome and the Florida Keys better than Cuba (as if they were even comparable). Las Vegas better than almost anything else!!! Gimme a break!
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Beirut parking

Click picture to enlarge. Thanks to Nada.

Hariri's assasination

The Atlantic has a very interesting story on the investigation. The slide-show is also recommended. Especially the picture of May Chidiac. Thanks to Paulita for sending it.

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An animated film about one of Lebanon's darkest moments

I just saw a report on CNN on Waltz with Bashir (and also the Lemon Tree). Among other things, the CNN report mentioned that the two movies were acclaimed around the world but did not make much moeny in Israel (in fact Waltz with Bashir was not even screened by the main movie theater chains). Too close to home says director Eran Riklis.
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Favorite things Lebanon

I just landed in Geneva (it’s 12 degrees here, it was 28 in Beirut) and this will be the last Lebanon post (for the moment, at least). Tyler Cowen (who is the greatest blogger on earth) has a nice “My favorite things XXX” series. I checked and he does not have a “My favorite things Lebanon” post. So, I tried to build my own (with some help from sista in law Nadine) Favorite things Lebanon.

Favorite food and restaurants. I love fried sultan Ibrahim (red mullet). However, I don’t particularly love the trendy Sultan Ibrahim restaurant. The best fish I had in Lebanon was at Chez Sami in Keserwan. But there are many good choices in Beirut. La Plage in Ain el-Mreisseh has good food (a bit pricey) in a beautiful setting. A long time ago (probably in 1999) I ate at Pepe's Fishing Club in Byblos (I don’t know if the place still exists). The food was average, but the old photos of Lebanon’s golden days were fantastic. I went to a very nice Armenian restaurant in Gemmayze called Mayrig. My Armenian friends (and da wife) told me that one should try Varouge in Bourj Hammoud.

Street food. This is not really street food, but the other great thing about Lebanese food are the sandwiches. In this trip I discovered (thanks to sista in law Nadine) Kabab-ji. WOW!

Favorite writer. Here the choice should be easy, the country worships Khalil Gibran. However I find the guy sooooo boring and pompous. Sista in law Nadine suggests reading “I, the Divine,” by Rabih Alameddine.

Favorite place to hang out at night. This is easy: Gemmayze (they even have free golf-cart shuttles to take you around). Nadine highly recommends Joe Pena, but the new hot spot is Myu (could not find a link). Here is a map of the bar/restaurants/clubs in the area.

Favorite place to hang out during the day. Also easy: Corniche al Manara

Favorite archeological site. Here competition is tough, but Baalbek remains one of the most spectacular places I have ever seen.

Favorite singer. This should also be easy, Lebanese worship Fairuz as much as they worship Gibran. Like Gibran, I find her boring. One of the sista in law suggests Haifa Wehbe and Ali el Deek. I don’t particularly like the former and I don’t know the latter. So I will vote for a half Lebanese: Shakira (her father is Lebanese and she grew up in Barranquilla. Nightlife in the Caribbean coast of Colombia is not so different from nightlife in Beirut, just substitute aguardiente with arak). Her early work (especially Pies Descalzos) is really good but I also ike the more recent and more commercial stuff.

Favorite movie. The recent sensation was Caramel, but I have not seen it (and people who have seen it did not say great things about it). I liked a lot West Beirut (one of the main actors used to be a student of da wife in AUB).

Favorite university. AUB, of course

Favorite actress. Let’s go again for a half Lebanese: Salma Hayek. Not really for her acting skills (even though I liked her in Frida), but because I can link to this guy who compares her to Von Hayek (but, in my ranking, Salma would win).

ADDENDUM
Pask says that I'm not the best qualified person to talk about food. Whoever knows my eating habits will agree with him. In fact, even I agree with him.
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Where's hummus from?

FP reports that the president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association announced that Lebanon plans to charge Israel with violating a food copyright by marketing hummus and falafel as Israeli products.

This reminds me of when I first moved to the US and people started telling me that pizza was from Chicago (or New York). My answer was: go to Da Michele in Naples and then to Pizzeria Uno. If after that you still have doubts on who invented pizza, you should have your taste buds checked.

So, I have no clue about the origin of hummus and falafel. However, I tried them in most Middle Eastern countries and there is no doubt that the Lebanese variety is by far far far far far the best (and the best hummus is the one homemade by my mother in law) and this should settle the issue.
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A picture from Beirut

It’s a “maid” agency. Like in many other developing countries, middle class Lebanese families often have live-in maids. However, in most developing countries, maids are either local or from neighboring countries (for instance, in Chile and Argentina you find many maids from Bolivia and Peru), but in Lebanon (and Jordan, I don’t know about other developing countries in the Middle East) maids come from far-away places (mostly Sri Lanka, Philippines, and Ethiopia). The agencies charge fat fees, the government gets big tax revenues on the residency, work, and immigration permits, and the maids get little (the average monthly salary of a maid from Sri Lanka with a two year contract is $180, agency fees are $62 per month, and government fees are $42 per month). For a short documentary, see here and here (the second link has the breakdown of the fees).

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Lebanon, still defying gravity

In 2001, I left Lebanon thinking that a huge crisis was about to hit the country. The economy was not growing, the public deficit to GDP ratio was double digit, debt was 140% of GDP (if I remember well), and the currency was seriously overvalued. Two wars after, the dollar depreciation took care of the last factor (the Lebanese lira is fixed to the dollar) and the economy started growing at about 6% a year (in nominal terms). But the fiscal numbers are as screwed up as ever. The deficit is “only” 6% of GDP (GDP is about $22 billion), but debt reached 200% of GDP and may go to 220% in 2009.

Are people worried? Of course not! Clubs are cooler and more crowded than in New York, property prices are sky-high, and sovereign spreads remain low. Why? The standard answer is that “Lebanon is different.”

Yesterday I bought a wireless router. My sister in law told me that there is no way I will be able to set it up. I told her that I set similar routers up in the US, Italy, and Switzerland. She gave me the standard answer: “Lebanon is different.” Well, after 10 hours of trying I gave up. Lebanon IS different!
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