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The purpose of this study is to assess the operational efficiency of Arab stock markets during the past decade in order to anticipate their ability to compete in the future. The study provides estimates of the operational efficiency of Arab capital markets by analyzing how well they use all the information available and other financial resources to generate earnings.

Kuwait is a typical example of an oil‐based economy. The oil sector contributes over one‐third of GDP and over 90 per cent of exports. Economic diversification for Kuwait means reducing the heavy dependency on the oil sector. It also implicitly includes reducing the direct role of the public sector while increasing private sector activities and hence the private sector’s size and role in the economy. The study shows that although Kuwait has tried to lessen its dependence on oil through the development of the nonoil sectors, its success so far has been, at best, very modest. Furthermore, it is expected that Kuwait will continue to rely heavily on oil, at least for the next two decades. The crux of the matter is that government policies were mainly in reaction to certain situations and thus no actual diversification took place. The necessity of economic reform and structural adjustment come up to the top of the policy action agenda only when oil prices are down and the government is faced with budgetary pressure.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of the targeted subsidies plan in the rural and agricultural sectors of Iran and its impact on the government’s sales income, operating cash flow (OCF) and receivables collection ratio.

Using the panel data approach, the authors examine their hypotheses on a sample of six provinces of Iran, including Khorasan Razavi, Khorasan Jonoubi, Kerman, Semnan, Kermanshah and Kurdistan, during 2009-2013.

The findings indicate that the implementation of the targeted subsidies plan leads to increased actual electricity sales in the rural sector. Further, while the coefficient on OCF in the estimated model suggests a significant and positive relationship between the OCF and the implementation of the targeted subsidies plan, the coefficient on receivables collection ratio demonstrates a significant but negative association. Contrary to the government’s primary expectations, the results do not provide any support for the reduction of electricity consumption.

The current study is apparently the first study which conducted on the subject under study.