No holy statistics for the holy land: The fallacy of growth in the palestinian rural economy, 1920s–1930s

This chapter argues that in the Arab rural sector, there was no real economic growth, but rather stagnation in regard to per capita measurements. It analyses the work by Jacob Metzer and Oded Kaplan. The 1991 study by Metzer and Kaplan, together with Metzer’s subsequent 1998 research, is the most comprehensive on economic growth during the British mandatory era in Palestine. The livelihood of the majority of Arabs was connected to agricultural production. The chapter discusses from linear regressions with time series data, an explanation about the characteristics of regressions and the analysis of their results. If high quality data on Arab agricultural output existed, the analysis of economic trends in the Arab rural sector would be easier and more precise. The statistics for Net Product of Arab Agriculture are underestimated in 1939, unlike the period commencing in and that the later the year, the more relatively overvalued are the returns on net product of Arab agriculture.