Robert Looney

Robert E. Looney is professor of National Security Affairs, Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He has been a consultant to the governments of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Mexico, Panama, and Jamaica as well as the World Bank,International Labor Office, Inter-American Development Bank, Stanford Research Institute, Rand Organization, The International Monetary Fund, and various US government agencies.

This individual is a guest contributor for mei.edu, and is not affiliated with The Middle East Institute.

Publications

Oct 1, 2014

Robert Looney

Agrarian Mirage: Gulf Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan’s Agricultural Sector

Oct 1, 2014

Robert Looney

In the late 2000s, one rarely picked up a financial newspaper without seeing an announcement of Gulf investments in large tracts of Pakistani agricultural land. Today, however, there is little, if any evidence of a single foreign-financed agricultural project in Pakistan having come to fruition. This essay explores why.
May 1, 2008

Robert Looney

The Turkish Business Climate

May 1, 2008

Robert Looney

This Policy Brief analyzes Turkey’s recent past and current business climate in the face of political, social, and economic trends in the country. Positing Turkey as being on the verge of attaining its potential as one of Europe’s most dynamic economies, the article discusses both challenges and recommendations for the future. As the EU’s largest and perhaps most complicated accession candidate, furthering liberalization is crucial to Turkey’s business prospects.
Jan 1, 2008

Robert Looney

Currency Conundrums in the Gulf

Jan 1, 2008

Robert Looney

Historically, the US relationship with the GCC countries has been largely defined in terms of security and energy issues. However, in recent years the US dollar and its influence on the currency systems in the Gulf have taken on increased importance. For years the GCC countries have pegged their currencies to the dollar, setting their currencies at a fixed rate with respect to the dollar. This practice paid great dividends in helping the individual countries establish sound macroeconomic fundamentals, especially as defined in terms of low rates of domestic inflation. However, the system comes at the cost of precluding the use of monetary policy, particularly the setting of domestic interest rates that diverge from those in the United States. A close examination of the pros and cons of the current fixed exchange rate system suggest that the time for change to a more flexible system may be at hand. For various reasons, however, GCC countries have decided to maintain the status quo, at least in the near term.

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Robert Looney

Agrarian Mirage: Gulf Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan’s Agricultural Sector

The Turkish Business Climate

Currency Conundrums in the Gulf