A cost benefit analysis

A friend of mine was invited to attend a particular very important wedding. He phoned me up with his news and we started talking about it. I was startled when he asked me who I thought was paying for his invitation. We started reminiscing about another such big wedding, when Gamal Abdel Nasser’s daughter Mona married Ashraf Marwan in 1966. Nasser was a charismatic socialist leader who brought the concepts of socialism and communism to the Middle East.

I remembered there used to be heated debates in my parents’ house between my eldest sister and a socialist relation who used to visit regarding Nasser’s alleged daily expenditure. The relation believed wholeheartedly Nasser’s claim that he only spent 1 Egyptian Pound per day for his household. My sister used to get very annoyed and answer back that she spent 2 Egyptian Pounds a day, so how could the head of state spend so little?!

When Nasser’s daughter got married, it was a lavish affair, with no expense spared. At the time, it was all hushed up and pictures have only started emerging now, after 40 years.

My friend asked, “Who paid then?”

To make up our minds on this matter, my friend and I have created a list of costs and benefits, leaving it for you to analyse.

Costs: wedding costs, policing costs, reduced manufacturing, extra holiday, damage to environment, benefits only one part of the country

Benefits: extra holiday, increased revenue in services, increased spending, tourism, pride and excitement, interest from overseas, gifts are going to charity.

What next?