Overview of Context , Issues and Summary

Despite being blessed with immense oil resources, Arab countries have neither achieved economic prosperity nor became developed countries. This chapter provides a brief overview of issues related to understanding the origins and symptoms of the resource curse and the challenges triggered by oil dependency in the Arab World including the traditional issues related to economic diversification, Dutch Disease etc. Among the novel issues explored are the interactions between oil windfalls and weak institutions (including fiscal institutions and optimal exchange rate regimes) as well as the role of political economy factors of the impact of resource rents on the strategies of the ruling elites to fend-off potential revolts that might remove them from power.