The economic determinants of political Islam : an empirical investigation of the Arab Spring in Egypt

Abstract EN

This paper empirically studies the voting outcomes of the first post-revolution presidential elections in Egypt.

In light of the strong success of Islamist candidate Mohamed Morsi, I identify three dimensions which can affect voting outcomes: human capital stock, wealth and employment structure.

I find that less educated, poorer and more unequal districts support more Islamists.

I also find an effect of the employment structure of a district on voting.

I test the results by comparing the voting outcomes of the presidential elections to those of the 2011 and 2012 constitutional referendum.