Cultural Conflicts, and Economics 101
Everyone, I think, is adapting to life in Egypt pretty well, but there are still misunderstandings and conflicts. One of my favorite stories concerns a teacher who was convinced a shoe salesman had ripped him off because he was American. (He now tells everyone he’s Canadian.) He had chosen some shoes marked “90,” but when the time came to pay (and after he’d mentioned he was American), the salesman was demanding 95. The teacher argued a bit but then, deciding 5 L.E. was hardly worth the effort, gave in, though he resented it. Well, when he told me this story a light went on in my dark noggin, because I’d recently been studying Arabic numerals and knew exactly how this conflict had arisen. Because, you see, while the Arabic 9 looks almost exactly like our 9, the Arabic 5 is in fact a “0”! So, actually, the man was charging him the correct price, while the teacher was trying to get him to knock 5 pounds off! This is yet another reason I’ve been advising people not to assume anything negative unless they have no other possible explanation. You simply never know, especially when you’re dealing with a different culture and language. All in all, it’s probably best to assume the best unless something much more important is at stake.
Another, far more annoying (to me, anyway), issue is what I refer to as the Taxi Wars. A few teachers are a bit obsessed about not getting “ripped off” by taxi drivers, who will often try to charge foreigners more than natives. On the one hand, this is understandable: we are living in Egypt, are carrying Egyptian pounds, and are, in a certain limited sense, Egyptians. Also, no one likes to be treated differently. And yet, I hardly think this constitutes just cause for anger, confrontation, and even, in some cases, vitriol. What is more, I think it also is unfair on economic grounds. Some people are demanding to be charged no more than average Egyptians, and yet, we are quite profoundly NOT average Egyptians, being paid at least 10 times the average Egyptian’s wage. (The average Egyptian makes roughly $1,500 a year—but we should note that “average” is probably not an accurate measure, since there is a great division between rich and poor here. Thus most people, no doubt, have an income below $1,500, the average having been inflated upward because of the huge incomes of a relative few.) In short, it seems to me a bit unseemly to demand paying an average-Egyptian charge while having a 10+ times greater-than-Egyptian income. I do not suggest we should pay whatever is asked of us—but paying more than average every now and then should not be a big deal. We can easily afford paying $4 instead of $3 for a ride across half Cairo! If we were being charged relative to our income, that would be $40. I would even argue that, if anyone is getting “ripped off,” it is probably the taxi drivers, who know that, for us, a few pounds more or less is nothing, while for him it makes a far greater material difference. We as rich foreigners, in short, are taking advantage of them, not the other way around. Think of basic economics: precisely how is the price of something—a commodity or a service–fixed? It is fixed by the marketplace, which operates according to both the relative value of something as well as the amount of money in circulation. Taxi rides in Cairo are so cheap only because most people don’t have much money. If everyone had our incomes, however, the price would be far higher. So basically, we’re having our cake and eating it too: we get to have higher incomes without having to bear the burden of increased prices. The Egyptian cabbies who want to charge a little more are not gouging us—they’re adjusting their price upward on the basis of our ability to pay—but not nearly enough to be proportional to our income. We’re still getting a great deal.
That, anyway, is my argument. Again, I do not suggest we throw money at taxi drivers like it’s going out of style. We can bargain, haggle, etc., but I just think its inappropriate to make a big deal out of it. The Egyptian economy, furthermore, is not exactly a powerhouse, and can use whatever extra infusion of cash it can get. Why not just bear the (miniscule) extra burden and do your part?
Another note on Egypt and the Egyptian economy and how most things in Egypt just don’t run as smoothly and aren’t as well-maintained or modern as they are in the US. Sometimes these discrepancies can lead people to exasperation: “Just WHAT are these people thinking?” Well, I myself was recently pondering this subject and looked into some basic statistics. Egypt has roughly one-quarter the population of the US but only about 1/40 the economy. This means, in short, that Egypt is trying to do all the things the US does— military, medical, infrastructure, education, public works, etc.—with about 10% of the resources available in the US. Think about that: 10%. If every government agency at every level, and every one of us as well, suffered a 90% cut in resources, how would WE live? I’m sure we’d do what many Egyptians are forced to do: cut corners, throw nothing even remotely valuable away, and live in an often filthy city with concrete characterless apartment blocks stretching to the horizon. I have no doubt that Egypt could be run better and that there could be less, say, corruption. Reducing the gap between rich and poor would also be enormously beneficial. But a 90% cut. Maybe, when you think about it and take everything into account, they're not doing so bad at all....
(Of course, some would argue that the Egyptians have 10% of our resources because of something wrong (economically-speaking) with them and what they’ve done. There is probably SOMETHING to this, but we shouldn’t push the point too far. Your average Egyptian has as much interest in doing well economically as we do—probably more. The problems in Egypt, much like our successes in the US, are due to a great number of very complex factors that have roots decades, even centuries, deep. I don’t know enough economics to make a detailed argument, but suffice it to say I reject the notion that everyone gets what they deserve. We generally get what we’ve inherited—whether that’s a corrupt and backward system or a transparent system of rules and regulations that is more evenhanded. We should also note that Egypt’s public education system is utterly atrocious and that nearly 50% of Egyptians are illiterate. How do you pull yourself up on your feet when you can’t even successfully educate your people? How do you achieve those basic, foundational elements you need to develop your economy when your economy cannot successfully provide for those basic, foundational elements in the first place? It’s a kind of catch-22: you need development to get more resources, but you need more resources to get development.
In conclusion, please note the situation is not hopeless: Egypt IS pushing up—but, unfortunately, it’s very slow going.)
Another, far more annoying (to me, anyway), issue is what I refer to as the Taxi Wars. A few teachers are a bit obsessed about not getting “ripped off” by taxi drivers, who will often try to charge foreigners more than natives. On the one hand, this is understandable: we are living in Egypt, are carrying Egyptian pounds, and are, in a certain limited sense, Egyptians. Also, no one likes to be treated differently. And yet, I hardly think this constitutes just cause for anger, confrontation, and even, in some cases, vitriol. What is more, I think it also is unfair on economic grounds. Some people are demanding to be charged no more than average Egyptians, and yet, we are quite profoundly NOT average Egyptians, being paid at least 10 times the average Egyptian’s wage. (The average Egyptian makes roughly $1,500 a year—but we should note that “average” is probably not an accurate measure, since there is a great division between rich and poor here. Thus most people, no doubt, have an income below $1,500, the average having been inflated upward because of the huge incomes of a relative few.) In short, it seems to me a bit unseemly to demand paying an average-Egyptian charge while having a 10+ times greater-than-Egyptian income. I do not suggest we should pay whatever is asked of us—but paying more than average every now and then should not be a big deal. We can easily afford paying $4 instead of $3 for a ride across half Cairo! If we were being charged relative to our income, that would be $40. I would even argue that, if anyone is getting “ripped off,” it is probably the taxi drivers, who know that, for us, a few pounds more or less is nothing, while for him it makes a far greater material difference. We as rich foreigners, in short, are taking advantage of them, not the other way around. Think of basic economics: precisely how is the price of something—a commodity or a service–fixed? It is fixed by the marketplace, which operates according to both the relative value of something as well as the amount of money in circulation. Taxi rides in Cairo are so cheap only because most people don’t have much money. If everyone had our incomes, however, the price would be far higher. So basically, we’re having our cake and eating it too: we get to have higher incomes without having to bear the burden of increased prices. The Egyptian cabbies who want to charge a little more are not gouging us—they’re adjusting their price upward on the basis of our ability to pay—but not nearly enough to be proportional to our income. We’re still getting a great deal.
That, anyway, is my argument. Again, I do not suggest we throw money at taxi drivers like it’s going out of style. We can bargain, haggle, etc., but I just think its inappropriate to make a big deal out of it. The Egyptian economy, furthermore, is not exactly a powerhouse, and can use whatever extra infusion of cash it can get. Why not just bear the (miniscule) extra burden and do your part?
Another note on Egypt and the Egyptian economy and how most things in Egypt just don’t run as smoothly and aren’t as well-maintained or modern as they are in the US. Sometimes these discrepancies can lead people to exasperation: “Just WHAT are these people thinking?” Well, I myself was recently pondering this subject and looked into some basic statistics. Egypt has roughly one-quarter the population of the US but only about 1/40 the economy. This means, in short, that Egypt is trying to do all the things the US does— military, medical, infrastructure, education, public works, etc.—with about 10% of the resources available in the US. Think about that: 10%. If every government agency at every level, and every one of us as well, suffered a 90% cut in resources, how would WE live? I’m sure we’d do what many Egyptians are forced to do: cut corners, throw nothing even remotely valuable away, and live in an often filthy city with concrete characterless apartment blocks stretching to the horizon. I have no doubt that Egypt could be run better and that there could be less, say, corruption. Reducing the gap between rich and poor would also be enormously beneficial. But a 90% cut. Maybe, when you think about it and take everything into account, they're not doing so bad at all....
(Of course, some would argue that the Egyptians have 10% of our resources because of something wrong (economically-speaking) with them and what they’ve done. There is probably SOMETHING to this, but we shouldn’t push the point too far. Your average Egyptian has as much interest in doing well economically as we do—probably more. The problems in Egypt, much like our successes in the US, are due to a great number of very complex factors that have roots decades, even centuries, deep. I don’t know enough economics to make a detailed argument, but suffice it to say I reject the notion that everyone gets what they deserve. We generally get what we’ve inherited—whether that’s a corrupt and backward system or a transparent system of rules and regulations that is more evenhanded. We should also note that Egypt’s public education system is utterly atrocious and that nearly 50% of Egyptians are illiterate. How do you pull yourself up on your feet when you can’t even successfully educate your people? How do you achieve those basic, foundational elements you need to develop your economy when your economy cannot successfully provide for those basic, foundational elements in the first place? It’s a kind of catch-22: you need development to get more resources, but you need more resources to get development.
In conclusion, please note the situation is not hopeless: Egypt IS pushing up—but, unfortunately, it’s very slow going.)
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