Crude oil and stock markets in the Middle East

This book is about the impacts of crude oil prices on stock markets in the Middle Eastern economies.The ME consist of 17 countries and regions which some of them are oil-importing (Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Egypt, Palestine, and Lebanon) and others are oil-exporting (Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Iran, Kurdistan Region of Iraq ,Kurdistan Region of Syria, and Syria ). Stock markets in this region differ from those of developed countries because of the governmental structure of the ME economies. In fact, the nature of most Middle Eastern countries, except Israel, is under the control of governments and economies in this region without well –functioning stock markets. Unlike developed economies, stock market capitalizations rely on a public based economy than a private base .Thus, focusing on the impact of oil price shocks on the ME stock market capitalization can help policymakers and the investors to make proper economic decisions.