Facing the economic crisis with productive realism

ENAR

It plainly is depressing. Practically every story in this issue of Executive starts—if not with the scary ad-hoc topic of the coronavirus—but with a reference to the dire economic straits that Lebanon is in. And even before the March issue went to the newsstands, the mood among some of our online readers seemed to be correspondingly explosive to this dismal perception: an online-first interview with a banking economist on the eurobond repayment question triggered a handful of instant, nasty, and non-quotable responses when it was posted at the end of February—a far more visceral response than had been garnered by an op-ed published the week prior that laid out opposing views. That the Lebanese have become more vocally engaged with the country’s pressing economic issues can only be a good thing. But amid the op-eds, interviews, tweets, and blogs there must also be an acknowledgement that the national financial story