Gulf-Iranian Relations: Facts & Future Perspectives
The current world equilibrium is undergoing profound and historical changes that could lead to unexpected outcomes in the strategic international balance of powers. This is obvious in the economic structural problems facing the United States and Europe and their impact on foreign policy, as in the case of the United States changing its defense policy over the next ten years.
UAE Labor Mobility Reforms Create Winners and Losers
The government wisely worked with a team of experts to evaluate the results. Five years on, an interesting analogy with traditional labour union activity has emerged, in which the interests of “insiders” (migrant workers already in the UAE) clash with those of…
Gulf Economic Integration: Recommendations Based on the International Community’s Experience in Compliance With International Agreements
The economic integration of its members was one of the most important goals for the establishment of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
How Mathematical Modeling Helps the Gcc Countries Make Energy Policy Decisions: a Case Study of the Kapsarc Energy Model
Because the hydrocarbon sector is responsible for such a large proportion of the gross domestic product of the GCC states’, maximizing the value obtained from these resources in a sustainable way is essential. In this regard, modeling the energy sector is a key tool for better understanding of the energy markets.
The World Bank and Middle East Development Policy
In July 2016, the World Bank appointed American Paul Romer as the Bank’s chief economist. This was quite a radical decision; the World Bank usually prefers conservative figures for its top positions, whereas Romer is a commercial and intellectual entrepreneur, who left the academy, first to establish Aplia, which heralded a transformation in the higher education sector, and subsequently to launch the “charter cities” development project.
Is VAT the Best Choice for the GCC Countries?
The economies of the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries are highly dependent on the energy sector, where the hydrocarbon sector constitutes around 40% of their GDP. Moreover, revenues from the oil and gas sector accounts for about 80% of the governments’ budgets.
Why the GCC Needs to Adopt Economic Policy Experimentation
From the days of antiquity, through to the middle of the twentieth century, economics was largely a deductive and narrative discipline. The leading contributions were dense treatises hundreds of pages in length, with scarcely a number or equation in sight.
Shrinking the Public Sector in the GCC
In most GCC countries, for some time, over 50% of employed nationals have been working in the public sector—a very large percentage by international standards, as in advanced economies, public sectors usually account for around 20% of total employment.
Entrepreneurship, Not Government Jobs, to Empower Gulf States’ Own Steve Jobs
This trend, combined with a growing youth population, poses a challenge to the GCC’s capacity to create sufficient job opportunities – a novel problem for wealthy economies.
Abu Dhabi Mergers Have Similar Causes but Different Purposes
In response to two recent Abu Dhabi mergers – National Bank of Abu Dhabi with FGB (a combined market value of US$30 billion) and the International Petroleum Investment Company with Mubadala Development Company (with combined assets of $127bn) – one may wonder: why, and why now?
