Matthew Gray provides a modern economic history and political economy of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – countries that collectively are of huge importance within the global economy. Focusing on the period since 1945 and especially on the last twenty years, the book outlines the main factors that have shaped these diverse nations, discussing problems of state formation and ruling elite legitimacy, the role of oil and gas, the challenges of economic geography, the wider international political setting and its impacts and constraints to economic reform. The book examines the key structures that have shaped Gulf economic systems tightly controlled by the state, and a core group of political elites including royal and merchant families, alongside topics more often overlooked, such as the personalization of economics, the role of women, young people and expatriate workers, climate change and environmental problems and wealth inequality.