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Economics Research Seminar Series: The Blockade Against Qatar: A Blessing in Disguise?
Details
On 5 June 2017, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and initiated a blockade against the country. In his paper, Antoniades provides the first in-depth examination of the blockade's impact on Qatar's economy and reviews the policy responses that followed. In particular, he considers how the policies that have since emerged either complimented or deviated from past policies and practices and evaluates whether they have brought long-term benefits to the country –– benefits that may not have been realized had the blockade not taken place. His review finds that the blockade did not cause a shift in policy direction, but it did change the urgency and process by which policies were put together and pushed forward and their effectiveness. Furthermore, he finds that the timing of the blockade worked in Qatar's favor in surprising ways. To the best of his knowledge, this is the first study to provide meticulous documentation of the policy responses that followed the blockade and an in-depth analysis of its impact.
Speakers
Alexis Antoniades
Director, Chair
International Economics, Georgetown University - Qatar
Alexis Antoniades is associate professor, director, and chair of international economics at Georgetown University in Qatar. A Fulbright scholar with a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University, he is an expert on global markets and a leading authority on the economies of the Gulf countries, Qatar in particular.
He is the recipient of a $1,050,000 research grant award (2009-2012) by the Qatar National Research Fund to undertake the first micro-study on the economies of the Gulf countries, and along with colleagues from Qatar University, an $867,000 research grant to use social media and analyze sentiment in the Arab World (2014-2017). His current research is on big data, prices, and job vacancies.
Antoniades previously worked as an assistant economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at Princeton University as the recipient of the prestigious Niehaus Fellowship awarded to the most talented scholar on issues of globalization and governance. In his thirteen years in Qatar, Antoniades frequently advises the leadership of both public and private sector organizations.