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Article: "Economics 101: The challenges of external enforcement in the GCC"

1/28/2017

Published in The National

The prisoner’s dilemma is a caricature of the many situations we face in our day-to-day lives where cooperation leads to a better outcome for all, but where the desire to pursue one’s own interests results in a worse outcome for all. Tackling global climate change is arguably the most prominent example today.

In the case of the GCC, commercial exchange, which benefits all parties, is often undermined by selfish behaviour by buyers, such as bouncing cheques or reneging on credit agreements, and by sellers, such as delivering faulty merchandise. This is one possible explanation for why e-commerce has, until recently, been slow to catch on in the GCC.

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Article: "Digital vs. Paper Education in the Saudi Vision 2030" (التعليم الرقمي والتعليم الورقي في رؤية 2030)

1/24/2017

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نُشر في صحيفة الحياة
English version below

للأدوات الرقمية دور محوري في «رؤية 2030» السعودية، لاستخدامها كوسيلة لتعزيز كفاءة المشاريع المطروحة وفاعليتها. وربما أبرز مثل على ذلك حملة نقل الخدمات الحكومية من النمط التقليدي إلى النمط الرقمي، التي بدأت قبل «الرؤية» من خلال نماذج ناجحة، كخدمة «أبشر»، التي تقدمها وزارة الداخلية من خلال إدارة شؤون الهجرة والجوازات.ـ

المزيد

Digital tools play an important role in the Saudi Vision 2030, principally as a means of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed plans. Arguably the most salient example is the campaign to digitize traditional government services, which started before the Vision, as in the case of the “Abshir” service provided by the Ministry of Interior for managing immigration and passport affairs.

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Article: "Economics 101: How you can tell feigned righteousness from the real thing"

1/21/2017

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Published in The National

In business and elsewhere, interacting repeatedly with someone helps you to overcome the temptation to behave opportunistically – you fear the consequences of such opportunism, including direct punishment (see last week’s article in this series). Having your reputation tarnished is a more subtle mechanism for motivating good behaviour, and it is one that has a rich history in traditional GCC commerce. How exactly does it work in the prisoner’s dilemma (PD)?

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Article: "Economics 101: Repetition and retaliation are solutions to prisoner’s dilemma"

1/14/2017

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Published in The National

Individuals pursuing their own best interests sometimes set up the worst outcomes for a group – known as the prisoner’s dilemma. One manifestation of this problem in the GCC is the limited role for e-commerce, where buyers and sellers do not trust each other enough to conduct an online transaction. How can repetition help solve the prisoner’s dilemma?

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Article: "Economics 101: The prisoner dilemma, talking or not"

1/7/2017

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Published in The National

The prisoner’s dilemma is a parable about two individuals who have jointly committed a crime considering how much to confess to detectives.

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Article: "Economics 101: The challenges of external enforcement in the GCC"

Article: "Digital vs. Paper Education in the Saudi Vision 2030" (التعليم الرقمي والتعليم الورقي في رؤية 2030)

Article: "Economics 101: How you can tell feigned righteousness from the real thing"

Article: "Economics 101: Repetition and retaliation are solutions to prisoner’s dilemma"

Article: "Economics 101: The prisoner dilemma, talking or not"

Omar Al-Ubaydli

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