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1 – 10 of 933Ramez Abubakr Badeeb and Hooi Hooi Lean
This paper aims to examine the validity of the question of whether oil dependence has a negative impact on the relationship between financial development and economic growth in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the validity of the question of whether oil dependence has a negative impact on the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Yemen.
Design/methodology/approach
The auto-regressive distributed lag approach for cointegration is used to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth by capturing the impact of oil dependence on this relationship. The Granger causality test, based on a vector error correction model (VECM) framework, is used to investigate the causal relationships between financial development and economic growth.
Findings
The most interesting finding is the negative sign of interaction term between financial development and oil dependence, which implies that the positive effect of financial development on economic growth decreases with the increasing oil dependence. The result of the VECM Granger causality test revealed the existence of unidirectional causality running from financial development to economic growth.
Research limitations/implications
The short sample period and the worry of losing degrees of freedom limited us when including control variables in the model. If the data are available in the future, other control variables can be added.
Practical implications
The government should reduce the level of oil dependence in Yemen by diversifying the country’s economy. Accelerating the pace and efficiency of the financial sector will bear fruitful returns in this regard. The government could achieve this strategy by playing a more proactive role in encouraging the expansion of credit to enable the financial sector to provide a more efficient intermediary role in mobilizing domestic savings and channeling them to productive investments across various economic sectors.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the impact of oil dependence on the finance-growth nexus in Yemen. A new indicator for oil dependence is also proposed.
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The purpose of this paper is to draw from up-to-date reports that outline the current situation for Yemen in terms of education and the socio-political context, and to address…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw from up-to-date reports that outline the current situation for Yemen in terms of education and the socio-political context, and to address this context with theory from the complexity science domain in order to propose practical recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper outlines highlights from the current situation in Yemen, namely, the challenges presented by conflict, and international engagement in conflict, and offers an appraisal of key factors pertaining to education and progress made in this arena in recent years. A focus is made on tribal groups as a starting point for bottom-up emergent engagement, and complexity science is suggested as a theoretical domain to draw from to conceptualise how to enact this.
Findings
A discussion of how complexity science could be meaningfully applied to the case of education in Yemen is presented, along with seven recommendations for the focus of future international aid interventions in Yemen.
Originality/value
At this time, there are few, if no, other works that have been found that have considered the case of education in Yemen in this way from the perspective of a bottom-up emergent engagement with tribes as a way of leveraging the values-based system of tribal customary law in order to address sustainability development goals, literacy, integration in digital society and education as a means of approaching these issues.
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Wa'el Alaghbari, Azizah Salim, Kamariah Dola and Abang Abdullah Abang Ali
The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that cause housing shortage for low‐income groups in Yemen and recommend some solutions to alleviate the problem.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that cause housing shortage for low‐income groups in Yemen and recommend some solutions to alleviate the problem.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey has been used as the tool to carry out this study. The first part of the questionnaire consisted of three groups namely: economic, administrative, and legal factors. The second part consists of suggestions on housing supply, construction methods, and materials used for low‐cost housing in Yemen. The level of importance of the categories was measured and the relative importance of weightage was ranked.
Findings
The results show that the most important economic factors causing housing shortage were poor handling of available economic resources and shortage of economic resources. The most important administrative factors causing housing shortage were lack of organization and synchronization and not conducting studies on housing. The most important legal factor causing housing shortage was lack of legalization of housing.
Originality/value
The findings could be used to improve housing policies and strategy in Yemen in order to decrease the housing shortage, particularly for the low‐income group.
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What kinds of support do interstate rivals provide to domestic actors in ongoing civil wars? And how do domestic actors utilize the support they receive? This chapter answers…
Abstract
What kinds of support do interstate rivals provide to domestic actors in ongoing civil wars? And how do domestic actors utilize the support they receive? This chapter answers these questions by comparing Iranian and Saudi military and non-military (mediation, foreign aid and religious soft-power promotion) support to the Houthis and to the Government of Yemen (GoY) during the Saada wars (2004–2010) and the internationalized civil war (2015–2018). It also focuses on the processes through which the GoY and the Houthis have utilized this support for their own strategic purposes. This chapter applies a structured, focused comparison methodology and relies on data from a review of both primary and secondary sources complemented by 14 interviews. This chapter finds that there were less external interventions in the conflict in Saada than in the internationalized civil war. During the latter, a broader set of intervention strategies enabled further instrumentalization by domestic actors, which in turn contributed to the protracted nature of the conflict. This chapter contributes to the literature on interstate rivalry and third-party intervention. The framework of analysis is applicable to civil wars that experience intervention by rivals, such as Syria or Libya.
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Wa'el Alaghbari, Azizah Salim, Kamariah Dola and Abang Abdullah Abang Ali
Housing costs are very high in Yemen compared with Middle East countries, which caused a shortage of housing supply especially for low‐income groups. This paper aims to develop…
Abstract
Purpose
Housing costs are very high in Yemen compared with Middle East countries, which caused a shortage of housing supply especially for low‐income groups. This paper aims to develop affordable housing design for people with low income and to examine their ability to afford houses in Sana'a, Yemen.
Design/methodology/approach
Two different questionnaires were used to achieve the study objectives. The first one was to examine the requirements and needs of low‐income groups, while the second was to analyze the feedback of professionals in relevant housing authorities in Sana'a. An affordable house design methodology was used to design alternatives of low‐income housing in order to minimize cost and environmental impact while maximizing the social acceptability in housing projects.
Findings
The results show that the low‐income group can afford new houses in Sana'a in consideration of the following: constructing multi‐storey housing units such as apartment system through using the concrete frame structure and building the internal and external walls with concrete blocks with limited areas (65‐120) square meters.
Originality/value
The findings could be used to improve housing affordability through housing policies in Yemen in order to decrease the housing shortage particularly for the low‐income group.
Mukhtar A Kassem, Muhamad Azry Khoiry and Noraini Hamzah
The oil and gas construction projects are affected negatively by the drop in oil price in recent years. Thus, most engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies are…
Abstract
Purpose
The oil and gas construction projects are affected negatively by the drop in oil price in recent years. Thus, most engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies are opting to optimize the project mainly to mitigate the source of risks in construction to achieve the project expectation. Risk factors cause a threat to the project objectives regarding time, cost and quality. It is additionally a vital component in deviating from the client's expectation of productivity, safety and standards. This research aims to investigate the causes of risk in the oil and gas construction projects in Yemen.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive literature review from various sources including books, conference proceedings, the Internet project management journals and oil and gas industry journals was conducted to achieve the objectives of this study. This initial work was predicated strictly on a literature review and the judgments of experts to develop the risk factor framework for the oil and gas construction projects in Yemen.
Findings
The authors found a few studies related to risk factors in oil and gas construction projects and shared a similar view about general construction projects. However, only a fraction of the factors accepted have included the variances of other studies on a regional basis or specific countries, such as the Yemen situation, due to the differences between the general construction industry and oil and gas industry. Moreover, the factors of these attributes were still accepted due to their applicability to the oil and gas industry, and no significant variances existed between countries. Research has indicated that 51 critical factors cause risks in the oil and gas construction projects in Yemen. Such risk factors can be divided into two major groups: (1) internal risk factors, including seven critical sources of risks, namely client, contractor, consultant, feasibility study and design, tendering and contract, resources and material supply and project management; and (2) external risk factors, including six sources of critical risk factors, namely national economic, political risk, local people, environment and safety, security risk and force-majeure-related risk factors. A risk factor framework was developed to identify the critical risk factors in the oil and gas construction projects in Yemen.
Research limitations/implications
This research was limited to the oil and gas construction projects.
Practical implications
Practically, this study highlights the risk factors that cause a negative effect on the success of oil and gas construction projects in Yemen. The identification of these factors is the first step in the risk management process to develop strategic responses for risks and enhance the chances of project success.
Social implications
The identification of risks factors that cause the failure of construction projects helps develop response strategies for these risks, thereby increasing the chances of project success reflected in the oil and gas sector, which is a main tributary of the national economy in developing countries.
Originality/value
This research is the pioneer for future investigations into this vital economic sector. Given the lack of resources and studies in the field of construction projects for the Yemeni oil and gas sector, the Yemeni government, oil companies and researchers in this field are expected to benefit from the results of this study. The critical risk factors specific to the oil and gas construction projects in Yemen should be further investigated with focus only on Yemen and its oil and gas industry players.
Details
Keywords
Tribes are an important and under-acknowledged element in Yemen’s social, security and political structures. Any agreement to end the civil war needs to take into consideration…
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DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB274423
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Iran's role in Yemen.
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB198659
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Wa'el Alaghbari, Azizah Salim, Kamariah Dola and Abang Abdullah Abang Ali
The cost of housing is very high in Yemen compared with Middle East countries, which has caused a shortage of housing supply, especially for the low‐income group. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
The cost of housing is very high in Yemen compared with Middle East countries, which has caused a shortage of housing supply, especially for the low‐income group. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that are significantly influencing housing cost in Yemen.
Design/methodology/approach
The study surveyed 60 professionals in housing in Yemen, to identify factors influencing housing cost that are related to land, materials used, construction methods used, finishing works, and other factors/related issues. The questionnaire survey instrument consisted of 32 factors, which were grouped into these five categories. The level of importance was measured and the relative importance of weightage was ranked for all five categories.
Findings
This study found that cost of project land, cost of cement and steel for reinforced concrete are the most significant factors influencing housing cost in Yemen.
Originality/value
Based on the analysis of the ranking and intensity of housing cost factors, this paper further suggests possible improvements for decreasing the housing cost in Yemen. These recommendations are hoped to increase more regulated housing development and housing policy.
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