Title: The economic efficiency analysis of Saudi Arabia

Authors: Abdullah Alkarashi; Mark Rajai; Kouroush Jenab

Addresses: Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management, California State University Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8332, USA ' Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management, California State University Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8332, USA ' Society of Reliability Engineering-Ottawa, 812-761 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: In this study, the authors measured Saudi Arabia's long-term economic efficiency in light of total factor productivity (TFP) using seven economic measurements. Measuring long-term input versus output in a country's economy could provide sufficient data for measuring the efficiency in that economy in comparison to other economies. This study compared Saudi Arabia's long-term economic efficiency versus Turkey, Malaysia, Israel and the USA, as a benchmark. Ultimately, Saudi Arabia falls behind other nations in all seven measurements, which is a significant inefficiency in the Kingdom's economy. Analysing solutions such as improving energy efficiency, privatisation, education, governance and transparency are discussed in this paper.

Keywords: total factor productivity; TFP; benchmarking; economic efficiency; modern economies; complex economies; economic measurements; Saudi Arabia; Turkey; Malaysia; Israel; USA; United States; energy efficiency, privatisation, education, governance and transparency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2014.064556

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2014 Vol.7 No.5, pp.565 - 576

Published online: 06 Sep 2014 *

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