Mohammad Chatah’s Big Idea

What’s the best way to spend Lebanon’s upcoming oil wealth? The race for ideas has begun.

Is there anything better for a highly indebted country with creaking infrastructure than the prospect of earning substantial amounts of cash from newly discovered natural resources? Repaying the national debt, building more schools and improving the roads can all be nothing but unalloyed good, right?

Not quite, as it turns out. New wealth from natural resources has a nasty habit of corrupting and entrenching ruling elites, and for various reasons, leaving countries worse off than before. This raises an important question: With the future prospect of oil income, how can Lebanon avoid what has become known as the “resource curse?”

Man with a plan

Mohammad Chatah, one of Lebanon’s prominent economists and a former finance minister, is proposing a bold idea: Give the money straight to the Lebanese people.

Let me say it outright: I believe Lebanon’s revenue from oil and gas should, as a matter of principle, be distributed directly to all the Lebanese people, in equal shares. And there are many reasons why.

Mr. Chatah’s proposal is not some fancy mental exercise by a bored academic. It is an impassioned case by a practical man for what in his opinion is the right and fair thing to do:

Radical as this may seem, I believe the direct distribution of natural resource revenues to all Lebanese is the most logical and the fairest thing to do. We can even add that it would be both illogical and unfair for the government to keep those receipts for itself. This is true even if the government is corruption-free and spends the money wisely.

Can it be done?

As a technical man and a former finance minister, Mr. Chatah appears confidant that Lebanon can work around the logistical difficulties that such a gargantuan task would entail (he seems to be a believer in the power of information technology). But can Lebanese politicians agree on a measure that is obviously against their own interests?

The plan is not as far fetched as it seems. Giving away money to people is a popular idea which can be a powerful political force. If it is brought up often enough in the media, people will start asking for it and putting pressure on politicians to bring it about. Moreover, the plan is a good philosophical fit for the Lebanese “no-winner, no-loser” mentality of governance. Think of it: Can you imagine a Lebanese party monopolizing power because it controlled oil wealth?

I still have some doubts. I worry for instance about inflation; giving money to people is similar to printing money. You are almost guaranteeing that prices will shoot up. That said, I am sold on Mr. Chatah’s brilliant idea and I think it deserves our support.