Oil Cycles and Education: Evidence from Saudi Arabia
Outlines
We empirically establish a link between oil price volatility and the quality of education. We show that, following the drop of oil prices in end of 2014, parents in Saudi Arabia, a highly oil-dependent country, took their kids away from tuition-based private national schools to free public schools. We also show that the growth of Saudi students attending international schools, i.e. schools that teach international curricula, significantly slowed down post the negative oil shock. To the point that tuition-based schools (both national and international) provide better quality of education relative to free public schools, we establish a channel through which oil cycles can impact quality of education, adding another dimension through which oil volatility can impact economic development.
Speaker
Dr. Abdullah Almansour
Abdullah Almansour is a professor of economics in King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He is active in academic and policy research. His areas of expertise include energy economics, the macroeconomics of Saudi Arabia, Saudi labor market, pricing of financial products and Islamic finance. He published several articles in leading journals such as Energy Journal, Energy Economics and Financial Management. He serves as a consultant to private and public entities including Ministry of Economy and Planning in the Kingdome. Abdulla holds a PhD in applied economics From University of Waterloo, Canada and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from KFUPM.