ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a summary and comparison of the findings of the allocational patterns of the oil revenue. It presents a discussion of the factors which tend to channel the oil revenues towards particular items of expenditure. The chapter attempts to explore briefly the factors determining the fundamental policies underlying the allocation of revenue in the Emirates. Ever since oil revenue started to flow, it has constituted a very high proportion of the total public revenue. Some of the Emirates have been trying to diversify the sources of their public revenue and increase the proportional contribution of non-oil revenue. Allocation to the ruling families accounted for a considerable proportion of the states’ oil revenue. Allocations to the ruling families and to land purchase schemes have shown an overall increase in some of the Emirates more recently compared to those of the early 1950s.
