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This volume explores the challenges to diversification in Gulf countries, which can no longer rely on profits from hydrocarbons to fund national expenditures. It elaborates on the problem of weak institutions, lack of coordination between policy makers and executors, limited investment in research and development, and a workforce that is too poorly skilled to compete in the private sector. In addition to analyzing issues in areas such as education, labor, business, and trade, the contributors underscore the importance of using global best practices to overcome fundamental weaknesses in the Gulf Cooperative Council´s economic structure that limit opportunities for economic diversification.
This is the second volume in Economic Diversification in the Gulf Region .

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1: Challenges of Economic Diversification in the GCC Countries
2: Natural Resources and Economic Diversification: Evidence from the GCC Countries
3: Oil Resources and Diversification in a Small Open Economy: The Case of Oman
4: Policy Implications of the UAE´s Economic Diversification Strategy: Prioritizing National Objectives
5: Dubai´s Model of Economic Diversification
6: Diversification and Specialisation in the Gulf´s Digitized Creative Sectors
7: Success factors of Saudi-German Joint Ventures: A Meta-Analytical Approach
8: GCC Countries´ Diversification and Industrial Development: Looking beyond the Asian Model
9: Economic Diversification in the GCC and the Korean Experience
10: Economic Diversification and Empowerment of Local Human Resources: Could Singapore be a Model for the GCC Countries?

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Ashraf Mishrif is Senior Lecturer in Political Economy in the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, King´s College London, UK.
Yousuf Hamad Al Balushi is an experienced and qualified economist with more than 18 years´ professional experience at the Central Bank of Oman and the Supreme Council for Development and Planning of Oman.

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