Rentier state theory (RST), which seeks to explain the impacts of external payments - or rents - on state-society relations and governance, has been in wide usage for over two decades, and is still routinely cited by scholars writing on the Gulf or other parts of the world. Its tenets are widely...

The main objective of the Water Sector Review in the member countries the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) is to (1) conduct a diagnosis of the current situation of the water sector, identify issues in the GCC region, evaluate the GCC governments' current water policies,...

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries were characterized by a robust economic rebound from the pandemic in 2021 and the beginning of 2022 as well as a partial restoration of external and fiscal positions following deep plunges in 2020. The war in Ukraine is projected to provide a windfall...

On November 4th 2011, Groupon Inc. went public with an initial market capitalization of $13 billion. The business was formed a couple of years earlier as an off-shoot of “The Point.” The business grew rapidly and increased its reported revenue from $14.5 million in 2009 to $1.6 billion in...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the decline in global oil demand and prices dealt the GCC countries a health crisis and a commodity market shock. The GCC's aggregate GDP contracted by 4.8 percent in 2020 from 2019, with the growth outturns ranging from -3.7 in Qatar to an estimated -6.3 percent in...

This second edition of the twice-yearly Gulf Economic Monitor describes recent economic developments, near-term prospects, and broader reform priorities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (The Pulse of the Region). Regional aggregate GDP growth in 2017 weakened to just 0.5 percent,...

The near-tripling of oil prices from their trough in January 2016, to nearly 80 US dollars per barrel in early October 2018, has spurred a recovery in the GCC economies, following three years of persistent weakness. Additional support has come from rising oil production, and a slower pace of...