ABSTRACT
The four Arab Levant economies—Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, and Syria—share several important characteristics. First, they have strong endowments of human capital but no great oil wealth. Though Syria produces some oil, oil has played less of a role in the Levant than almost anywhere in the Muslim Middle East. Besides Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories, the only other Muslim Middle East state not producing oil is Morocco (leaving aside such peripheral Arab League members as Somalia or the Comoros). All the Arab Levant states have been affected by spillover from the oil booms of their neighbors, however, thanks to aid flows, trade opportunities, and work for emigrants.
