Middle East Studies

Introduction

Since ancient times, the area we know as the Middle East Has been the crossroads of trade and wealth.  With the discovery of oil in the 20th century, the Middle East became a linchpin of the world economy.  This wealth has not been evenly distributed and this fact has led to many different approaches to economics and resource management.  Oil has been the driving force in most Middle East economies, either directly or through remittances from foreign workers.  Here are some links to Middle East economic data.

Most Middle East Central Banks have a publishing department that produce annual economic statistics and other useful publications.  OSU Libraries subscribe to several of these but most of them are now available online from the Banks website.