Hussein Cheaito

Hussein Cheaito is a former Nonresident Fellow at TIMEP focusing on governance and economic development in Lebanon. He is a Development Economist at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based research center that aims to empirically assess existing policies and generate viable alternatives. Hussein is interested in the economics of decentralization (specifically fiscal federalism), gender and queer economics, and development economics. In his current work, he has been diagnosing regional economic development in three different districts in Lebanon using various quantitative methods. He has also been examining the effectiveness of Lebanon’s local public finance system, the country’s remittances-dependent economic model, and the political economy of aid. He seeks to advocate for an economic research agenda that is heterodox, localized, and feminist in nature. Hussein graduated with an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Sussex as joint Saïd Foundation, Chevening, and British-Lebanese Association scholar in 2020. He received his BA in Economics and minor in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut. You can follow him on Twitter at @husseinch96.

Articles by: Hussein Cheaito

Local Governance in Lebanon: The Great Mirage

After enduring over three years of a fiscal and institutional crisis, Lebanese municipalities find themselves devoid of a well-defined economic identity, and lack in resources and the strategic foresight necessary for comprehensive...

Lebanese-Style Déjà Vu: The Case of Presidential Elections

As Lebanon continues to descend into perpetual collapse, the risk of a presidential vacuum comes at a hefty cost of increased vulnerability and delayed recovery.

Lebanon’s $3 Billion IMF Deal and the Art of Illusory Reform

The current IMF deal has inflated the illusion of conducting reform in Lebanon. It has offered the political and banking elites more time and wider opportunity to maneuver around proposed reforms to...