CONCLUSION

The objective set for this chapter is to character­ize the major trends related to production and trade besides their links to different components of the knowledge economy in the context of the Arab economies.

Besides, the prior, a specific focus is placed on the role of one knowledge component that is information and communication technologies

Table 9.

Table 10.

Table 11.

Table 12.

Table 13.

Table 14.

Table 15.

(ICTs). The analysis conducted in the second part of this chapter shows clearly how important improvements could be ICT based and how the different ICT components are enhancing the levels of production and services. This confirms again

the roles of ICTs in enhancing not just the pro­duction and trading processes but also the other welfare components such as health and education. These effects are again translated into impacts on production and trade.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Economic Sectors: Mainly traditional levels of aggregation used to show how each economy is producing and trading different goods and services.

Dominant Sectors: Those aggregates that ensure the highest economic outcomes as mea­sured through different economic variables as they appear in the chapter.

ICTs: Information and Communication Technologies refer to the large array of means and technologies used in telecommunication, information, and media but that are increasingly mobilized in different economic and social sectors.

Production and Trading Systems: Used to express the major trends occurring in Arab coun­tries where oil and gas play an important role in the trading patterns of some Middle Eastern countries.

Trade Concentration: In terms of the num­ber of commodities and services, a measure of concentration refers to how trade is based on a small or larger number of goods and services. The concept and the measure of concentration are generally used to show how an economy could be vulnerable to international market shocks in com­modities and services. An economy with a limited number of export goods is generally vulnerable to any sudden price decrease for these goods.

Trade Diversification: Represents and mea­sures the level of multiplicity of commodities and services that are included in both imports and exports. By opposition to concentration, a larger diversification of trade is economically preferred.

Value Added per Sector: As a measure of production, this is used in the context of this chapter to better show the contribution of the most important sectors and aggregates in each economy.

This work was previously published in Knowledge-Based Economic Policy Development in the Arab World, edited by Ahmed Driouchi, pages 147-171, copyright 2014 by Business Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global).