Gulf states are trying to increase private employment

BY NOW GULF rulers have tried almost everything. For much of the region’s modern history well-paid government jobs have been a birthright for citizens. This perk forms the core of the region’s social contracts: cushy, lucrative employment in exchange for the deprivation of political rights. Worried about growing populations and uncertain oil revenues, though, Gulf states have spent the past two decades trying to persuade and prod their pampered subjects to work for privately owned firms. It has been a real-world experiment in economics—and a largely unsuccessful one at that.