The Sultanate of Oman has a diversified economy, unlike many of its neighboring nations that rely almost entirely on oil revenues. Natural gas and several non-energy business sectors, such as tourism, fishing, light manufacturing, and agriculture are expanding rapidly. The Omani economy is one...

The State of Qatar is driven mainly by hydrocarbon revenues, which are estimated to support this tiny country for hundreds of years. The Qatari economy is becoming diversified with industries such as manufacturing, banking, social services, and tourism. Additionally, government financed health...

The recent political developments in the Middle East have prompted increased scrutiny of the economies of the nations lying in this region. Over the past few months, the financial markets of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have been affected by the speculations that existed before the war in...

We characterize the response of U.S., German and British stock, bond and foreign exchange markets to real-time U.S. macroeconomic news. Our analysis is based on a unique data set of high frequency futures returns for each of the markets. We find that news surprises produce conditional mean...

We explore entry into a foreign market with uncertain demand growth. A multinational can serve the foreign demand by two modes, or by a combination thereof: it can export its products, or it can create productive capacity via Foreign Direct Investment. The advantage of FDI is that it allows for...

As current trends of Chinese economic growth and motorization continue, its demand for higher efficiency fuels (oil, gas, and electric power) will increase. This, coupled with China’s limited domestic production, can translate into a massive demand for energy imports. To predict China’s...

Using a connectedness-measurement technology fundamentally grounded in modern network theory, we measure real output connectedness for a set of six developed countries, 1962-2010. We show that global connectedness is sizable and time-varying over the business cycle, and we study the nature of...

This paper utilizes Vector Auto Regression (VAR) models to analyze the interdependence among exchange rates of twelve Asian-Pacific nations, Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The daily data span from...

The economic and financial development are examined in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, representing the Middle East and North Africa region. Lengthy bureaucratic procedures, unclear...

This paper analyzes the causes and implications of recent financial crises. Financial crises in general lead to changes in both theory and practice of economics. The paper takes an historical overview. The global consensus of economic theory during the 20th century is discussed. The paper...