As undiversified commodity exporters, GCC economies are prone to pro-cyclical systemic risk in the financial system. During periods of high hydrocarbon prices, favorable economic prospects make the financial sector keen to lend, leading to higher domestic credit growth and easier access to...

Abstract: The economies of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are heavily reliant on oil. Greater economic diversification would reduce their exposure to volatility and uncertainty in the global oil market, help create jobs in the private sector, increase productivity and...

This paper examines the empirical relationship among stock return, trading volume and volatility for the seven stock markets that comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council. The dataset includes seven national stock markets for the period spanning from 1 July 2004 to 3 September 2008. Granger...

This paper investigates GCC countries' trade integration. The gravity equation is estimated using Panel Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial specification and COMTRADE aggregate and disaggregated flows. Results confirm GCC countries' integration deficit on exports side, while being integrated to some...

Given the change in oil price reflects change in observable economic fundamentals of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) economies, in this paper non-parametric co-integration and variance bound tests are employed to decompose volatility into fundamental and non-fundamental components. Findings of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the income structure of Islamic banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and to explore the effect of the diversification of banks' earning on risks that may harm these latter. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the performances of the insurance sector in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and carry out a comparative analysis for its different units. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyse the technical efficiency of insurances in the...

Given government's budget cuts and the spread of free market economy mechanisms, some Arab countries opened the field of higher education, which was a state monopoly, to the private sector. Many private universities and colleges have been established in these countries. It has been more than a...

Given the change in oil price reflects change in observable economic fundamentals of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) economies, in this paper non-parametric co-integration and variance bound tests are employed to decompose volatility into fundamental and non-fundamental components. Findings of...