
Two decades of data, one argument: an entrenched, captured elite hollowed out the productive economy for years. Then, a deliberate domestic financial scheme detonated one of the three worst economic collapses recorded anywhere since the 1850s.
Evidence briefs · charts generated from the cited series · macro outcomes (2005–2025) from World Bank Open Data & IMF WEO; capture proxies from World Bank WGI, V-Dem v15, Transparency International, the Alvarez & Marsal / BdL forensic audit, IMF Article IV, and the World Bank Lebanon Economic Monitor & Public Finance Review. Every figure is sourced inline; full data tables in the appendix.