Non-Resident Fellow, AGSIW
Omar Al-Ubaydli is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is also an affiliated associate professor of economics at George Mason University; an affiliated senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center; an adjunct visiting professor at the King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals; and a non-resident fellow at Trends, UAE. His research interests include political economy, experimental economics, and the economics of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Al-Ubaydli previously served as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Joint Advisory Board of Economists and a visiting professor of economics at the University of Chicago. He regularly publishes his research in international peer-reviewed academic journals, and his mainstream media articles appear in Arabic- and English-language newspapers and blogs such as Al-Hayat, The National, Forbes Opinion, and US News. Al-Ubaydli earned his BA in economics from the University of Cambridge and his MA and PhD in economics from the University of Chicago.
Bahrain’s post-coronavirus economic strategy positions the government as a venture capitalist, providing capital for strategic investments, but at the same time offering regulatory support for the private sector.
Consumer prices have risen much less in the Gulf states than in the United Kingdom and United States largely because of the idiosyncrasies of GCC economies.
AGSIW hosted a session as part of Gulf Intelligence’s Global UAE Energy Forum 2022: “What’s in Store for the Gulf Region in 2022?”
Even though an increase in the VAT seems the most viable option, higher levels of public buy-in could be secured through greater transparency in fiscal policy.
On September 23, AGSIW hosted a discussion examining prospects and challenges for increased cooperation between the EU and Gulf countries.
On June 2, AGSIW hosted a discussion on the economic future of expatriates and citizens in the Gulf.
Economics may offer some insight into why Bahrainis tied the knot more frequently in 2020.
Gulf governments see the sharing economy as a source of jobs for young people and promising outlet for entrepreneurs.
Many natural resource-dependent countries have tried to restructure government finances in the wake of falling commodity prices, with little success. However, Bahrain’s current efforts may bear fruit.
This paper uses economic theory to demonstrate the negative implications of subsidies.
Bahrain recently hosted the sixth meeting of the interagency and expert group on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), gathering international experts from dozens of countries and U.N.
Augustine of Hippo once remarked: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” In the last few years, the Bahraini government has launched a multipronged strategy to ensure that the kingdom’s page is more frequently read by the world’s travelers.
This marks the start of a new weekly feature in which Omar Al Ubaydli answers questions on economics.
In 2011, the UAE dramatically reformed its kafala system by allowing migrant workers with expiring contracts to change employers without the initial sponsor’s permission.
From the days of antiquity, through to the middle of the twentieth century, economics was largely a deductive and narrative discipline.
The presence of large migrant communities has made the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries a lightning rod for an immigration debate.
