Are Arab countries winners or losers?
Khatoun Haidar The debate over the benefits or evils of globalization took center stage at the recent European Social Forum held in France. Echoes reverberated in the Arab economic circles and press, some in favor, others against, all vehement in their beliefs. Given the lack of precise statistical measurements of the resultants of globalization, the contention often includes philosophical, social, and even religious arguments. Evaluating the economic impact of globalization is no easy task, yet one could ask: Who are the main beneficiaries of globalization? At the top of the pyramid, many of those who benefit to the sums of billions of dollars can be found in the Forbes list of the richest people an evaluation of the biggest fortunes worldwide published since 1986 by the American Magazine, Forbes. This year, 19.2 percent came from the developing world. Of these, 34 percent were from China and the so-called new Asian tigers, 18 percent from Latin America, and 14 percent from the Arab w
