In this unique text, Mohamed Ramady develops a framework for studying fundamental challenges to the modern Saudi Arabian economy. Public and private sector topics include: - The hydrocarbon and minerals sector, including a new model of mining privatization and cooperation - The impact of small and medium sized businesses - The evolving role of "family" businesses - The growing role of women in the Saudi economy - Shifting trade patterns - The Saudi "offset" technology transfer program The author offers an analysis of key challenges facing the Saudi economy, including the potential costs and benefits of privatization, globalization, and eventual membership in the WTO. Employment, education, economic and social stability, and Saudi Arabia’s place in the Gulf Cooperation Council are offered as keys to the consensus building needed to ensure the Kingdom’s healthy economic future. Mohamed Ramady teaches in the Department of Finance and Economics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

A study of the changes that have taken place in the various sectors of the economy and the factors that currently influence economic development and policy in Saudi Arabia. The effects of the changes in oil revenues on the economy and the Kingdom's development strategy are discussed.

The Saudi Arabian economy has changed almost beyond recognition since the oil boom days of the 1980s, and the Kingdom itself has changed too economically, socially, and demographically. In the second edition of The Saudi Arabian Economy, Mohamed Ramady uses several overlapping themes to establish and develop a framework for studying the fundamental challenges to the Saudi economy. Particular attention is paid to the benefits of short-term planning and long-term diversification intended to shield the economy from potentially de-stabilizing oil price fluctuations and the pace and diversity of domestic reforms. The author examines the core strengths and evolution of various financial institutions and the Saudi stock market in the face of globalization, before analyzing the private sector in detail. Topics discussed include: • The hydrocarbon and minerals sector, including the emergence of the competitive petrochemical sector • The impact of small and medium sized businesses and the evolving role of “family” businesses • The growing role of women in the Saudi economy • The role of privatization and FDI as engines of change and the position of public-private-partnerships • The establishment of a foundation for a knowledge-based economy Finally, the author offers an analysis of the key challenges facing the Saudi economy, paying particular attention to the potential costs and benefits of globalization, and membership in the WTO. Employment, education, economic and social stability, and Saudi Arabia’s place in the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as Saudi Arabia’s evolving strategic economic relations with China and other countries are offered as keys to the consensus building needed to ensure the Kingdom’s healthy economic future.

Written by a highly reputable author, this book provides a much needed, broad ranging survey of the development of the Saudi economy from the 1960s to the present day.

Making sense of Saudi Arabia is crucially important today. The kingdom's western province contains the heart of Islam, and it is the United States' closest Arab ally and the largest producer of oil in the world. However, the country is undergoing rapid change: its aged leadership is ceding power to a new generation, and its society, dominated by young people, is restive. Saudi Arabia has long remained closed to foreign scholars, with a select few academics allowed into the kingdom over the past decade. This book presents the fruits of their research as well as those of the most prominent Saudi academics in the field. This volume focuses on different sectors of Saudi society and examines how the changes of the past few decades have affected each. It reflects new insights and provides the most up-to-date research on the country's social, cultural, economic and political dynamics.

In this unique text, Mohamed Ramady develops a framework for studying fundamental challenges to the modern Saudi Arabian economy. Public and private sector topics include: - The hydrocarbon and minerals sector, including a new model of mining privatization and cooperation - The impact of small and medium sized businesses - The evolving role of "family" businesses - The growing role of women in the Saudi economy - Shifting trade patterns - The Saudi "offset" technology transfer program The author offers an analysis of key challenges facing the Saudi economy, including the potential costs and benefits of privatization, globalization, and eventual membership in the WTO. Employment, education, economic and social stability, and Saudi Arabia’s place in the Gulf Cooperation Council are offered as keys to the consensus building needed to ensure the Kingdom’s healthy economic future. Mohamed Ramady teaches in the Department of Finance and Economics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most important countries in the modern world. Not only does it possess some 25 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, it also plays a crucial role in the wider Gulf region where over 50 per cent of proven reserves are located. Developments in Saudi Arabia will inevitably affect the economic well-being of the Western industrialised world, Japan and much of the Third World. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is ruled in a traditional way by an all-powerful king and royal family, and is one of the key countries of Islam, the Holy City of Mecca being within the country’s boundaries. The inroad of modern Western forces into this traditional Islamic society is underlined by the fact that may key posts are filled with imported Western workers. This book, first published in 1982, containing contributions by the world’s leading Middle Eastern experts, provides a comprehensive overview of important social, political and economic developments in Saudi Arabia. The opening chapters consider the formation of the Saudi State, and the bulk of the book surveys key themes such as political opposition, the oil industry, energy policy, banking, external relations and the future direction of development.

Saudi Arabia in the Balance brings together today’s leading scholars in the field to investigate the domestic, regional, and international affairs of a Kingdom whose policies have so far eluded the outside world. With the passing of King Fahd and the installation of King Abdullah, a contemporary understanding of Saudi Arabia is essential as the Kingdom enters a new era of leadership and particularly when many Saudis themselves are increasingly debating, and actively shaping, the future direction of domestic and foreign affairs. Each of the essays, framed in the aftermath of 9/11 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, offers a systematic perspective into the country’s political and economic realities as well as the tension between its regional and global roles. Important topics covered include U.S. and Saudi relations; Saudi oil policy; the Islamist threat to the monarchy regime; educational opportunities; the domestic rise of liberal opposition; economic reform; the role of the royal family; and the country's foreign relations in a changing international world. Contributors: Paul Aarts, Madawi Al-Rasheed, Rachel Bronson, Iris Glosemeyer, Steffen Hertog, Yossi Kostiner, Stéphane Lacroix, Giacomo Luciani, Monica Malik, Roel Meijer, Tim Niblock, Gerd Nonneman, Michaela Prokop, Abdulaziz Sager, Guido Steinberg