Research papers, articles and analysis across economics, finance and public policy.https://salahegla.comenhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/infrastructure-sme-finance-gulfhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/infrastructure-sme-finance-gulfThe binding constraint on SME lending in the Gulf is informational and institutional, not a shortage of capital. This working paper sets out four interlocking infrastructure pillars that turn abundant liquidity into productive credit, reviews the international evidence critically, and proposes a measurable roadmap.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/innovative-finance-multipolar-worldhttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/innovative-finance-multipolar-worldIn a multipolar world, traditional financing alone is no longer enough to support economic diversification. A look at innovative financing tools — from blended finance to results-based financing — and the changing role of development banks.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/why-financing-alone-is-not-enoughhttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/why-financing-alone-is-not-enoughFinancing addresses a liquidity shortage, not a weak business model. Why does a well-financed venture fail, and what does it actually need alongside money to turn a loan into sustainable growth?Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/digital-security-smes-growth-investmenthttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/digital-security-smes-growth-investmentDigital security is no longer a purely technical matter for SMEs — it is now an economic factor shaping business continuity, customer trust, and access to financing.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/qatar-venture-capital-targets-2030https://salahegla.com/en/articles/qatar-venture-capital-targets-2030An analytical look at Qatar's venture capital ecosystem: its 2020–2024 performance, the Third National Development Strategy's 2030 targets, existing structural gaps, and comparative lessons from Saudi Arabia and Singapore.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/sme-support-productivity-misallocationhttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/sme-support-productivity-misallocationSupporting SMEs can harm aggregate productivity if designed as permanent, general support for firms simply because they are small — but it can raise productivity if it addresses a specific market failure. The question isn't whether to support SMEs, but which ones, and under what conditions.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/fintech-sme-financing-illusionhttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/fintech-sme-financing-illusionAn analysis of FinTech's effect on SME financing in the Arab world, and why its results remain conditional on institutional quality and digital infrastructure rather than the technology alone.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/gcc-desalination-opportunity-costshttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/gcc-desalination-opportunity-costsAn analysis of how the opportunity cost of desalinating water in the Gulf states evolved between 1990 and 2025: from the dominance of thermal technologies to the rise of reverse osmosis and solar desalination, and why energy-pricing reform has become a fiscal necessity rather than a technical option.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/middle-east-war-oil-shockhttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/middle-east-war-oil-shockThe oil shock from the Middle East war is not uniform in its impact: a look at how a country's position as a net oil importer or exporter, combined with its sovereign credit rating, determines the economic burden it bears.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/missing-or-hidden-middlehttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/missing-or-hidden-middleA re-reading of the 'missing middle' phenomenon in Arab economies: are medium-sized firms genuinely absent from the economic fabric, or do they exist but sit hidden outside the reach of statistical measurement?Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/moral-hazard-financial-institutions-sme-financehttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/moral-hazard-financial-institutions-sme-financeMoral hazard is not individual bad ethics — it is a flaw in incentive design. An analysis of how this phenomenon arises in financial institutions, development finance programs, and SME lending, with an analytical matrix for assessing it.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/sme-creditworthiness-oil-economieshttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/sme-creditworthiness-oil-economiesWhy SME creditworthiness in oil economies cannot be understood in isolation from the oil price cycle and institutional quality — an analysis aimed at policymakers, researchers, and development finance institutions.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/strategic-supply-chain-smeshttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/strategic-supply-chain-smesStrategy is not a theoretical document — it is an operational capability tested inside the supply chain. An analysis of the integrative relationship between strategic planning and supply chain management in SMEs.Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/white-elephant-projects-gulfhttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/white-elephant-projects-gulfWhat are white elephant projects, why do they arise, and how did Qatar partially avoid the trap through its 2022 World Cup stadiums, while other regional megaprojects fell into it?Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-economy-recovery-omranhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-economy-recovery-omranPeer-reviewed research in Omran Journal (Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies), Issue 53, Vol. 14, Summer 2025, pp. 123–147. The paper measures the war's impact on economic activity in Gaza through quantitative indicators and examines the concept, challenges and required interventions of economic recovery.Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/sme-backbone-economy-society-statehttps://salahegla.com/en/articles/sme-backbone-economy-society-stateA comprehensive statistical look at the role of SMEs in the economy, society, and the state, with a particular focus on Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and the GCC, drawing on data from the World Bank, IMF, IFC, OECD, and the Arab Monetary Fund.Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-agricultural-economy-analysishttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-agricultural-economy-analysisWhy does Gaza's latent agricultural potential fail to become a development lever? A statistical comparison of the 2010 and 2021 censuses reveals a shift from long-cycle cultivation toward quick-return activity.Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-agriculture-determinants-ardlhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-agriculture-determinants-ardlAn ARDL model on quarterly series for 1994–2024, measuring the effect of GDP, exports, bombardment, blockade and the SPEI-6 drought index on agricultural value added in Gaza.Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/household-income-palestinehttps://salahegla.com/en/research/household-income-palestineAn econometric study on 2022 Arab Index data measuring the effect of economic, political and security conditions on Palestinian household income, controlling for demographic and geographic factors.Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-climate-agriculture-thesishttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-climate-agriculture-thesisAn econometric study linking the SPEI drought index to the NDVI vegetation index across Gaza's governorates, testing whether Israeli bombardment of agricultural land amplified the effect of climate change on the sector.Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/administrative-corruptionhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/administrative-corruptionAdministrative corruption as a pathology afflicting the state's administrative apparatus from top to bottom — a reflective paper on its definition, forms, causes and the means of confronting it.Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/finland-education-social-innovationhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/finland-education-social-innovationHow did Finland turn a low-quality, bureaucratic education system into the highest-ranked in the OECD? A brief covering six innovative reforms, their results, the factors behind their success, and what makes them sustainable.Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-electricity-crisis-economyhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/gaza-electricity-crisis-economyA descriptive and quantitative study of how more than fifteen years of power cuts have affected Gaza's economic sectors — raising operating costs and depressing productivity, sectoral value added and GDP.Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/state-role-economic-thoughthttps://salahegla.com/en/research/state-role-economic-thoughtTracing how the state's economic role evolved across schools of economic thought — from the classical night-watchman state and Marxist central planning, through Keynes and neoliberalism, to the debate reopened by the global financial crisis.Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/foreign-aid-effectiveness-palestinehttps://salahegla.com/en/research/foreign-aid-effectiveness-palestineWhy do the positive effects of foreign aid remain weak despite more than US$36 billion delivered by 2020? A paper analysing aid's impact on the Palestinian economy and the reasons its developmental effectiveness stays limited.Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/palestine-renewable-energyhttps://salahegla.com/en/research/palestine-renewable-energyThe Palestinian electricity sector's 86% dependence on Israel makes energy security a structural question. An article on how renewable energy use has developed in Palestine and the obstacles it faces.Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/wages-unemployment-palestinehttps://salahegla.com/en/research/wages-unemployment-palestineA time-series econometric study finding a positive long-run relationship between nominal wages, inflation and unemployment — contrary to the Phillips curve — attributed to structural distortion, the absence of a national currency, and imported inflation.Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/productive-sectors-growth-palestinehttps://salahegla.com/en/research/productive-sectors-growth-palestineWhy do gains in merchandise exports fail to show up in GDP? A descriptive and econometric study of how industry and agriculture contribute to growth, and the external and internal constraints on both.Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/oil-gcc-developmenthttps://salahegla.com/en/research/oil-gcc-developmentHow did oil shape development and governance in the region? A research presentation comparing resource-rich labour-poor and resource-rich labour-abundant states, covering the resource curse, state autonomy and capacity, and the Gulf's distinctive labour-import strategy.Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/youth-unemployment-sme-palestinehttps://salahegla.com/en/research/youth-unemployment-sme-palestineYouth unemployment (15–24) rose from 20% in 2007 to 44.7% in 2017, reaching 73% among young women in 2020. A paper analysing the characteristics of the problem and the role SMEs can play in addressing it.Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://salahegla.com/en/research/tunisia-economic-developmenthttps://salahegla.com/en/research/tunisia-economic-developmentA reading of fifty years of Tunisian development (1970–2019): income, growth and economic structure; poverty levels and income distribution; external debt and foreign investment; and Tunisia's relationship with the World Bank and the IMF.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT