Jad Chaaban is an Associate Professor of Economics at the American University of Beirut. This article was jointly written with Diala Haidar, Rayan Ismail, Rana Khoury and Mirna Shidrawi, all founding members and/or activists within the Beirut Madinati Municipal Elections Campaign, an anti-sectarian electoral bloc in the municipal elections of the Lebanese capital in May 2016.