▁ 1 5 ▁years ▁or ▁so . ▁" U ntil ▁this ▁knowledge ▁system ▁is ▁rep a ired ," ▁he ▁wrote , ▁" ne ither ▁US ▁nor ▁European ▁capital ism ▁will ▁recover ." ▁▁ ▁In ▁another ▁series ▁of ▁articles ▁that ▁appeared ▁in ▁US ▁and ▁Europe ▁in ▁ 2 0 1 1 , ▁De ▁S oto ▁used ▁the ▁find ings ▁of ▁I LD ▁field ▁research ▁in ▁Egypt , ▁Tun is ia ▁and ▁Lib ya ▁to ▁make ▁his ▁case ▁for ▁" the ▁economic ▁roots ▁of ▁the ▁Arab ▁Spring ." ▁The ▁on going ▁Arab ▁revolution s , ▁he ▁argued , ▁were ▁" e conom ic ▁revolution s " ▁driven ▁mainly ▁by ▁the ▁fr ustr ations ▁of ▁ 2 0 0 ▁million ▁ordinary ▁Arab s ▁who ▁dep ended ▁on ▁the ▁inform al ▁economy ▁for ▁their ▁liv elihood s . ▁He ▁pointed ▁to ▁the ▁I LD ' s ▁earlier ▁ 2 0 0 4 ▁find ings ▁in ▁Egypt , ▁which ▁revealed ▁the ▁nation ' s ▁largest ▁employ er ▁with ▁ 9 2 % ▁of ▁the ▁property ▁in ▁the ▁inform al ▁economy ▁– ▁assets ▁worth ▁almost ▁$ 2 4 7 ▁billion . ▁Also , ▁as ▁proof ▁of ▁the ▁extent ▁of ▁des per ation ▁among ▁M EN A ’ s ▁entrepr ene urs , ▁he ▁elabor ated ▁I LD ' s ▁exclusive ▁research ▁on ▁Moh amed ▁Bou az izi , ▁the ▁Tun is ian ▁street ▁vendor ▁whose ▁public ▁self - imm olation ▁in ▁protest ▁of ▁the ▁ex prop ri ation ▁of ▁his ▁goods ▁and ▁scale ▁literally ▁spark ed ▁the ▁J asm