phd in economics lebanon

Lebanese fear a return to the 2006 war with Israel, or worse — a situation like Gaza

“This is already a war.”

For many in Lebanon, warnings from the United States that further escalation between Israel and Hezbollah could lead to all-out conflict have fallen flat. To Elias Faouz, it feels like that moment has already passed.

“It has been going on for a year now,” said Faouz, 44, an architect in Beirut, the capital city.

He recalled how during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, there was a sense of hope because several countries were actively mediating. This time, however, with the U.S. elections looming, it feels different.

“I think Israel’s government is playing into the timeline of the U.S. presidential elections, since they have about 40 days where they can do whatever they want before a new president comes in,” Faouz said.

“It’s not only going to impact people, it’s going to change their lives radically, like it’s happening in Gaza right now,” he added.

Faouz, whose family originally hails from the town of Maarakeh in the south, just welcomed friends — an extended family of seven — to stay in his apartment. Faouz said it took them 32 hours to drive from Maarakeh to Beirut, a trip that should normally take just over an hour. Their hometown was bombed after they left, he said.

Across Lebanon, which has a diverse religious population including Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze, fear is gripping people who say they don’t want a repeat of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war — or worse, a situation like Gaza, where the death toll has surpassed 41,000, according to health officials there.

A barrage of Israeli strikes in Lebanon have already killed more than 600 since Monday, about half the number killed over the 34 days of fighting in 2006. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 50 children and 94 women have been killed this week. The country’s foreign minister said Wednesday that the number of displaced was likely “ approaching half a million .”

Israel’s military said the strikes have targeted the Iran-backed Hezbollah , particularly in the south and the densely populated neighborhoods in southern Beirut. Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel since the day after Hamas fighters killed more than a thousand people and took around 250 hostages in the Oct. 7 attacks.

While both a political party with elected members in parliament and a Shiite Islamist group, the U.S., the United Kingdom and other nations consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization because of its militant activity and its backing from Tehran. It was formed in 1982, after Israel invaded Lebanon, with the initial aim of ending Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon, which it achieved in 2000.

The group’s conflict with Israel has intensified over the past year. Hezbollah has fired rockets, missiles, and drones into northern Israel; and Israel has responded with increasingly heavy airstrikes. The tit-for-tat fighting has caused tens of thousands to be displaced on both sides of the border. Israel has vowed to do whatever it takes to safely return its citizens to their homes in the north.

Before Israel’s siege on Lebanon began this week, 23 Israeli soldiers and 26 civilians were killed amid low-level, cross-border fighting. More than 500 Lebanese people, including at least 100 civilians, had been killed in those strikes.

Sandra Moukhtar, an English teacher at a Catholic school in Mount Lebanon, a mostly Christian area, said she has “conflicted emotions.”

“It’s a feeling of rage and devastation about what’s happening. We didn’t ask for this,” said Moukhtar, who lives in the Beirut suburbs. “But at the same time, there’s a feeling of solidarity with our Lebanese fellow citizens” in the south.

The Israeli government has said that it doesn’t want war with Hezbollah and that it can be avoided if the Iran-backed group stops firing into Israel. Hezbollah has also said that it does not seek war but that it will continue striking Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

Moukhtar, a 50-year-old mother of two, said that people tried for months through anti-war campaigns to prevent what is unfolding.

“They are fighting their wars on our land. How many times should we pay the price of other people’s wars?” said Moukhtar. “We do feel for the Palestinian cause. But why does it have to play out on our soil? So far, we have over 500 killed and thousands who have left their homes. How is this helping the Palestinian cause?”

The ongoing strikes are wreaking havoc on a country that has repeatedly been the stage for armed conflict — from a 15-year civil war that began in 1975 and involved both Syria and Israel, to an intense 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, and the simmering border fights in between.

Causing further worry for Lebanese people are the potential effects of a full-scale war on an economy that has been in crisis since 2019. The amount of people living below the poverty line rose from 12% in 2012 to 44% in 2022, according to the World Bank . The country is also hosting an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees , the largest tally per capita in the world. And the government has been in political deadlock for months, with the parliament failing to elect a president 12 times.

With a stream of people fleeing from the south to Beirut and other areas, it has been a daunting task for many to find a place to stay. Some have sought refuge with family and friends or churches, while n early 40,000 displaced people are staying in 283 shelters, according to the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration. Still, some have resorted to sleeping on the street, next to their cars.

For many in Lebanon, peace cannot come soon enough.

Sarah Waizani, 38, has family that fled the south after their town was bombed and traveled more than 14 hours by car to reach Beirut. They are now staying with extended family. Waizani’s parents moved in with her and her 13-year-old son in Beirut after their area, on the outskirts of Dahiye, was also bombed.  

“We are in a war and we’re supposed to live a normal life, go to work, and it’s very difficult,” Waizani said.

“I want peace and love. I have nothing to do with politics or religion. I just want to live in peace.”

Carmen Sesin is a reporter for NBC News based in Miami, Florida.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics

The Department of Economics provides a first-class research environment, equipping students with the resources necessary to excel in their academic pursuits. Each doctoral candidate is allocated:

• a dedicated office workspace
• advanced computing facilities
• a supportive community of fellow PhD researchers
• personalised regular guidance through meetings with your two dedicated supervisors
• comprehensive research methods training

Additional support

St Leonard's Postgraduate College at the University of St Andrews offers supplementary resources and support services, enhancing the overall postgraduate experience.

Academic engagement opportunities

Seminar series.

• External Speaker Series : regular presentations by renowned scholars in the field
• Brown Bag Series : weekly staff seminars promoting internal knowledge sharing

Reading groups

These sessions provide a platform for:

• staff and PhD students to present work-in-progress
• informal exchange of research ideas
• constructive feedback from faculty members in a supportive environment

Annual PhD conference

This flagship event is a mandatory doctoral seminar where:

• students showcase their research progress
• the entire Business School community engages with ongoing projects
• valuable presentation experience is gained in a professional setting

Cultivating excellence

Through this comprehensive approach, the Department of Economics creates an intellectually stimulating atmosphere that nurtures academic growth, fosters innovation, and equips you with the skills and knowledge to excel in both academia and industry .

For ideas about research interests in the Department, you can view the latest published research output of our staff on the research portal .

Programme structure

The typical PhD roadmap has the following checkpoints:

During this year you will usually take some modules to complete your training. The specific modules you take will depend on your individual background and will be decided by your potential supervisor and the Director of Postgraduate Research Students .

You will meet regularly with your supervisor and start work on your research. You will contribute to and present your work at the research students’ PhD workshop in May.

Before the end of your first nine months in the programme, you will have a progress review. This review should be based on research completed to date and should include a plan of your work for the remainder of your first year, and for your second and third years. After submitting your written work, you will have a meeting with two reviewers (from the Business School) which will complete your review process.

You may have the opportunity to take part in masterclasses or short training courses on topics or software in other universities, depending on funding. This will increase your knowledge of these topics and allow you to interact with other scholars working in your areas at other universities.

The Royal Economic Society provides financial support for macro and micro economics training. The  Easter Training School is intended primarily for advanced postgraduate students doing doctoral research.

You may be asked to take part in tutorial teaching for sub-honours classes (first and second year students), which will give you experience and increase your skill set for future employability.

You will be in a more intensive stage of your course, carrying out the necessary research, modelling and empirical studies required for the second and third parts of your thesis. You will be expected to send drafts of your papers to be considered for presentation at PhD student workshops and other conferences.

You will contribute to and present your work at the research students’ PhD workshop in May.

End of second year review: this will be similar to your first year progress review.

You will spend this year trying to complete the research for your thesis and focus on submitting the final draft and having your viva defence.

You may continue to carry out undergraduate tutorial teaching and increase your experience as a tutor.

You will be in an intensive stage of your course, carrying out the necessary research, modelling and empirical studies required for the final parts of your thesis. You will be expected to send drafts of your papers to be considered for presentation at PhD student workshops and other conferences. It would also be good to try and complete a draft of a journal article to submit to a reputable refereed journal. All of these are opportunities for valuable feedback on your work before your final submission.

You will complete and submit a final draft of your thesis and have your viva defence. During the year you will continue working on publications, conferences, and even applications for funding, as you will now be ready to enter the job market.

Research methods training

In the first year of the programme, depending on your background, you may be asked to take some modules from taught MSc programmes. These modules will most likely be from the MSc in Economics or the MSc in Finance and Economics degrees, or from the modules taught as part of the Scottish Graduate Programme in Economics , either at an MSc or a PhD level.

Other training options

Enhance your training through masterclasses led by visiting academics or offered by other Scottish economics departments. The University of St Andrews provides further development opportunities for PhD students through GRADskills and other programmes offered by the Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development ( CEED ) training unit.

Theses and dissertations

The Department of Economics maintains a repository of PhD theses for viewing. The list of recent submissions offers a partial collection of completed and examined theses from doctoral candidates within the Department of Economics (part of the former School of Economics and Finance). Please note that some print theses may not be available digitally.

PhD Social Sciences programs in Lebanon

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PhD Social Sciences programs in Lebanon

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Ph.D. in Economics

The Ph.D. Program in Economics at Georgia Tech has research strengths in the applied areas of health, energy & environmental economics, global development, international economics, market design, and game theory. Underpinning all our applied fields are strengths in microeconomic theory and statistical methods. 

The program prepares students for research careers in academics, government, and the private sector.

Students in the Ph.D. program benefit from:

• Enthusiastic faculty to mentor students
• High faculty-to-student ratio
• Exceptional research opportunities at the Health Economics and Policy Innovation Collaborative (HEPIC), the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) , the Atlanta Research Data Center (ARDC) , and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Ph.D. Program certification 1
• Core curriculum strengths in Microeconomic Theory and an exceptionally strong Econometrics sequence
• Georgia Tech Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Minor
• Tech to Teaching Certificate for the graduate teaching assistants, including opportunities to teach your own courses
• Competitive financial support for select students
• Georgia Tech’s location in the dynamic Midtown area of the city of Atlanta , one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country

During the first year of the program, our students concentrate on the core areas of Econometrics and Microeconomic Theory. In the second year of the program, students choose one or more fields of specialization and begin focusing on their dissertations.

We offer competitive support packages through the Georgia Tech Graduate Teaching and Research Assistantships for select students. Please, consult the rest of the site for additional information. 

Newly admitted Ph.D. students start their program in the Fall semester of each academic year. The application deadline for the Ph.D. in Economics program is Feb. 1  for admission in the Fall semester.

To be considered, applications must be completed with all supplemental materials submitted to the Georgia Tech Office of Graduate Studies  by the posted deadline. Please contact Justin Burkett for more information on our Ph.D. program.

1 STEM certification also benefits international students who can, upon graduation, apply for a STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa extension that allows them to work in the United States for up to 29 months rather than one year.

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An introduction to Lebanon, perhaps the next front in a wider war

Four books and a film on a pivotal middle eastern country.

L EBANESE BOAST that theirs is a country where you can ski in the mountains and swim in the ocean on the same day. Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, was once so urbane that it was known as the Paris of the Middle East. Lebanese have in common an irreverent sense of humour. They love their country for these and other reasons but they have often not loved each other. Lebanon’s various religious sects, 18 of which are officially recognised, have long fought one another. Outside powers, including Israel, Syria, Iran and America, have exacerbated their conflicts. Lebanon’s sect-based power-sharing system has led to corruption and political paralysis. Governments based on it have mismanaged the economy. GDP is less than half what it was in 2019. In 2023 the central bank devalued the Lebanese pound by 90% against the dollar. Inflation exceeded 200% that year. Many Lebanese have left in recent years, joining an already-vast diaspora. About 5.5m people, including hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, remain in a country that is being dragged once again into the seemingly endless war between Israel and its neighbours. That would escalate a regional crisis that Western powers are desperate to contain. We recommend four books and a film on a fascinating and pivotal country.

Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. By Robert Fisk. Oxford University Press; 752 pages; £20.99

Robert Fisk was among the most intrepid Western journalists to have covered the Middle East. In “Pity the Nation” he reports on Lebanon in the decade and a half from 1976, during a civil war involving Christian Maronites, various Muslim groups and, eventually, Druze. Outsiders made things worse. In 1976 Syrian troops came, invited in to defend the Maronites by Lebanon’s president, Suleiman Frangieh. Two years later Israel’s army invaded southern Lebanon in response to a raid by the Palestine Liberation Organisation from Lebanon that killed civilians. Fisk was on the scene in 1982 when Christian militias slaughtered more than 1,000 Palestinians at refugee camps in Sabra and Shatila as Israeli forces looked the other way. He describes the blackened bodies of babies and how millions of flies flew from corpse to reporter. All told, the war killed 150,000 people. But Fisk also writes about the love that the Lebanese have for their country, which he shared. He asks one woman why she remains in west Beirut, under constant threat of shelling. Because “it is the most beautiful place,” she replied.

Jokes for the Gunmen. By Mazen Maarouf. Granta; 176 pages; $13.99 and £10.99

“Jokes for the Gunmen”, a collection of 12 short stories, is packed with surreal tales and dark humour. All are set in an unnamed country, but the inspiration is clear. Mazen Maarouf, the author, was born in Beirut. His parents left the city in the late 1970s during the civil war, and Mr Maarouf ended up in Iceland. Many of the stories are told from the perspective of a young boy. In one a boy tries to sell his brother’s organs to buy a glass eye for his father. In another a soldier prowls the city obsessively searching for his cow. Tinged with sadness, the stories also elicit reluctant laughter. In “The Angel of Death” a nine-year-old boy decides to stop smiling and refuses throughout his life to develop a sense of humour. His straight-faced discourse strikes an old man as so funny that he laughs himself to death.

Lebanon: A Country in Fragments. By Andrew Arsan. Hurst; 520 pages; $21.95 and £19.99

Andrew Arsan returned to Lebanon in 2005 after 15 years abroad. It was a time, the scholar recalls, of both discord and optimism. In that year a car bomb killed Rafik Hariri, a former prime minister who had opposed Syria’s decades-long occupation of Lebanon. Mr Arsan tracks the 13 eventful years that followed. Hariri’s death triggered the Cedar Revolution, an uprising that united Christians, Sunni Muslims and the Druze, which led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces and an election. But the government was a disappointment. Mr Arsan blames in part the power-sharing system instituted after Lebanon won independence from France in 1943. (The president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of the legislature a Shia Muslim.) His book shows how Lebanon’s turmoil affected the daily lives of Lebanese of all sects and classes and brings that story alive with vivid details, such as the labneh that Hariri had for breakfast on the day of his murder. In one memorable chapter Mr Arsan uses a stroll through Beirut to show how conflict and economic stress have changed the city’s geography: each district is largely defined both by class and by religion and has little to do with its neighbours.

Caramel. By Nadine Labaki. (2007)

“Caramel”, the debut film by Nadine Labaki, a Lebanese director, follows the lives of five women who work in a salon in Beirut, “Si Belle”. It was filmed before war broke out in 2006 between Israel and Hizbullah, an Iran-backed militia based in southern Lebanon. Caramel is a painful hair-removal technique that uses heated sugar, water and lemon juice. Many Middle Eastern women, including your correspondent, are familiar with it. One woman often carries out the procedure on another, often behind closed doors. The film depicts the relationships between the women as they support one another through life’s difficulties and joys. As with epilation, there are moments of discomfort. But there is an overriding sweetness and warmth to the film, which the director called an ode to “her Beirut”.

The Rock of Tanios. By Amin Maalouf. Abacus; 288 pages; £9.99

“The Rock of Tanios”, by Amin Maalouf, a journalist, tells the tale of a legendary figure who disappeared after sitting on a chair-shaped rock towards the end of his life. In this novel Mr Maalouf reimagines Tanios as a 19th-century figure, born out of wedlock to Lamia, a beauty, and the powerful village sheikh. When his legal father, Lamia’s husband, kills the sheikh’s rival, Tanios is forced to flee abroad. The murder is based on a real event, and the novel takes place during a real contest among the Ottoman empire, Egypt and other outsiders that played out in Lebanon, not the last time the country has been an arena for rivalry among external powers. It is Tanios, returned from exile, who tries to mediate among competing powers as chaos swirls around him. Mr Maalouf is as interested in Tanios’s character and his relationships as he is in history. Although the murder and the clash inspired the novel, which he wrote in French, he describes the rest as “impure fiction”.

Follow our coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas , in which Lebanon is also involved. Other coverage of the Middle East is available here . Read our explainers on Hizbullah and the Druze . 1843 , our sister magazine, explains why you should not eat tabbouleh outside Lebanon.

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BA in Economics

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