Publications

Modeling Sectoral Employment in Saudi Arabia

Fakhri Hasanov, Jeyhun Mikayilov, Moayad H. Al-Rassasi, Mohammed Al-Abdullah, Fred Joutz, Muhammad Javid

Achieving the desired level of employment is central to macroeconomic policy. Regulators should have a better understanding of employment dynamics in order to design appropriate policies and test their impact. Healthy employment levels not only benefit household income and the production factor of firms, but also…

Hasanov, Fakhri

Mikayilov, Jeyhun

Moayad H. Al-Rassasi

Mohammed Al-Abdullah

Joutz, Fred

Javid, Muhammad

Solar Energy in Saudi Arabia

Abeer AlGhamdi

Saudi Arabia aims to significantly increase the contribution of renewable energy in its power energy mix, in order to diversify its economy, reduce emissions and eliminate the use of liquid fuels in its power system. In building a global hub…

AlGhamdi, Abeer

Revisiting Energy Demand Relationship: Theory and Empirical Application

MPI

In this paper, we revisit the theoretical framework for energy demand. We then use this theoretical framework to empirically model the Saudi Arabian industrial electricity demand. We show, in the case of Saudi Arabian data, that imposing parsimonious energy demand…

Fakhri Hasanov, Jeyhun Mikayilov

Green Growth Pathways for Saudi Arabia

Green growth emphasizes that positive environmental outcomes can be consistent with economic prosperity and that greater social wellbeing can be achieved through ‘less use, more value’ policies.

Is Saudi Arabia Getting Warmer?

Nawaz Peerbocus, Hatem Al Atawi, Turki Alaqeel, Abdulrahman AlJulaifi

According to NASA, the world is getting warmer. Warmer weather increases the demand for cooling, which subsequently increases the demand for electricity. Is Saudi Arabia getting warmer? And how might this impact the demand for electricity in the Kingdom? To…

Peerbocus, Nawaz

Al Atawi, Hatem

Alaqeel, Turki

AlJulaifi, Abdulrahman

Crude Oil and Refined Products

Rami Shabaneh, Abdullah Aldayel

The power sector in Saudi Arabia makes up just over half of the natural gas demand in the Kingdom, followed by the industrial sector and non-energy use as a feedstock for petrochemicals.

Shabaneh, Rami

Aldayel, Abdullah

Transitioning to High Efficiency Air Conditioning in Saudi Arabia: A Benefit Cost Analysis for Residential Buildings

Science Direct

This paper assesses the benefits of transitioning to high efficiency air conditioning (AC) equipment for existing units specific to the residential building stock in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The analysis is based on a calibrated residential building stock…

Nicholas Howarth, Moncef Krarti

World Equity Markets and COVID-19: Immediate Response and Recovery Prospects. Research in international Business and Finance

Science Direct

Following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, most global equity market indices experienced significant falls. Recognizing the severe economic impacts of the pandemic, starting from mid-March, many governments announced unprecedented economic rescue packages, which appear to restore investors’ confidence, given…

Fatih Yılmaz, Unal Seven

Freight Energy in Transition – Disruptors and Enablers

An increase in freight activity across different modes of transport has resulted in an amplified policy focus on reducing the associated externalities of increased transportation energy consumption, pollution, and traffic congestion (especially for urban freight). Increased freight energy demand in…

The World Needs OPEC, but OPEC Can’t Go It Alone

Andrew Stanley

The global oil market is going through an extraordinary period. The twin shocks of a significant increase in global supply and a remarkable fall in oil demand appear to have no parallel in history. Together, the collapsed OPEC+ agreement and…

Andrew Stanley

The Saudi Nuclear Energy Project

Noura Mansouri

Saudi Arabia’s nuclear energy program has been a subject of intense speculation recently, especially since the establishment of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE) by Royal Order No. A/90 in 2010. In 2012, the government announced…

Mansouri, Noura

Residential Energy Efficiency Investment and Demand Response Under Different Electricity Pricing Schemes: A Physical- Microeconomic Approach

Walid Matar

This paper expands on a previously-presented methodology that merges the physical properties of energy with microeconomic principles: The physical side of the model informs how much electricity is used to satisfy services that people desire, while the microeconomic side imposes…

Matar, Walid

The Relentless Politics of Climate Change: The Paris Agreement

Saleh Al Muhanna, AlJawhara Al Quayid, Nourah Al Hosain

The Paris Agreement entered into force in November 2016 and, to date, 187 parties have ratified it (UFCCC). The Agreement’s goal is to limit the increase in global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius (°C) above] pre-industrial levels. The Agreement established…

Al Muhanna, Saleh

Al Quayid, AlJawhara

Al Hosain, Nourah

The Impact of Population Dynamics on Housing Demand and Residential Energy Consumption in Saudi Arabia

Xun Xu

Saudi Arabia has witnessed explosive population growth over the past half century. The Kingdom’s population is expected to continue to grow and generate more housing demand in the coming decades. As the country attempts to curb its fast growing domestic…

Xu, Xun

Implementing Alternative Pricing Policies in Economic Equilibrium Models Using the Extended Mathematical Programming Framework

Bertrand Rioux, Abdullah AlJarboua, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru

Standard economic optimization models represent markets in perfect competition. They are commonly used, though they may not accurately represent real-world policies and regulations. Equilibrium models built using a mixed complementarity problem (MCP) approach are capable of simulating more flexible pricing…

Rioux, Bertrand

AlJarboua, Abdullah

Murphy, Frederic

Pierru, Axel

Transition Risks, Creative Destruction, and Stranded Assets

Nawaz Peerbocus

Ten years ago, climate risks were absent from the top five global risks in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks report. In their 2020 report, the top five global risks are all climate-related: extreme weather, climate action failure, natural disasters,…

Peerbocus, Nawaz

Behavioral Aspects of Energy Transition: A KAPSARC-Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) Joint Methodological Report

Rolando Fuentes, Emre Hatipoglu, Thamir Al Shehri, Matt Lipson, Scott Milne, Simon Pearson

KAPSARC’s work on innovation in electricity transitions has focused on unbundling services in the electricity sector (KAPSARC 2016) and developing the microeconomic foundation for a reliability service. Our research has investigated the experiences of industries resembling the electric power sector…

Fuentes, Rolando

Hatipoglu, Emre

Al Shehri, Thamir

Lipson, Matt

Milne, Scott

Pearson, Simon

Toward A Sustainable Agriculture Sector: Policy Options for Reducing Water Use in Abu Dhabi’s Agriculture Sector

Noura Mansouri, David Wogan, Humaid Kanji

Water shortages are a global challenge, with one third of the world’s population still without access to clean water. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face a scarcity of water resources due to their dry climates. The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s)…

Mansouri, Noura

Wogan, David

Humaid Kanji

Testing the Limits of Electricity Market Design

Rolando Fuentes

We live in an unprecedented time for the energy sector. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2019, electricity generated from renewable sources is at a historic high, with about 2,500 terrawatthours (TWh) produced in 2018 (Figure 1). This is more…

Fuentes, Rolando

Policy and Economic Frameworks to Deepen Sino-Saudi Cooperation

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has expanded from 65 original member states during its official launch in 2015 to 131 as of April 2019. The countries of the Middle East and North Africa have generally welcomed the initiative and…