State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been declining in numbers in most industries. However, in the oil and gas industry, state-owned national oil companies (NOCs) continue to secure dominant positions in most of the oil-producing countries. In some instances, energy-exporting countries conducted...

It is argued in this note that state-ownership and state-management of oil on behalf of the Iraqi people is not conducive to democracy and inconsistent with the principles of free market. Thus, we argued that state-ownership of oil (and gas) resources can adversely affect economic development...