Development policies for economic diversification vs economic specialization : the case of Saudi urban economies, 1992 − 2007

Abstract EN

The aims of this paper are to: (a) Investigate the trend of diversification/specialization of Saudi urban economies for the years1992 to 2007; (b) Examine whether urban economies with more diversified economic structure tend to grow faster than those with a more specialized structure; and (c) Identify which economic sectors become more diversified or specialized across the Saudi urban system over the same period of analysis.

Urban economic diversification or specialization is determined in this research paper using the Herfindahl Index of concentration (HI).

The data are aggregated into 9 major economic sectors and covered 19 Saudi urban areas.

The urban areas analyzed herein account for approximately 60% of the population of the nation and about 42% of the workforce of the national total workforce.

The findings revealthat given all the efforts of Saudi governments at all levels to spatially diversify the economic activities through improving the distribution of economic activities across urban places,the majority of Saudi urban places have not changed their relative economic structure nor their level of diversity during the period of analysis.