title: Card game

text: Many other card games have been designed and published on a commercial or amateur basis. In some cases, the game uses the standard 52-card deck, but the object is unique. In Eleusis, for example, players play single cards, and are told whether the play was legal or illegal, in an attempt to discover the underlying rules made up by the dealer.


title: Card game

text: Most of these games however typically use a specially made deck of cards designed specifically for the game (or variations of it). The decks are thus usually proprietary, but may be created by the game's players. Uno, Phase 10, Set, and 1000 Blank White Cards are popular dedicated-deck card games; 1000 Blank White Cards is unique in that the cards for the game are designed by the players of the game while playing it; there is no commercially available deck advertised as such.


title: Card game

text: A deck of either customised dedicated cards or a standard deck of playing cards with assigned meanings is used to simulate the actions of another activity, for example card football.


title: Card game

text: Many games, including card games, are fabricated by science fiction authors and screenwriters to distance a culture depicted in the story from present-day Western culture. They are commonly used as filler to depict background activities in an atmosphere like a bar or rec room, but sometimes the drama revolves around the play of the game. Some of these games become real card games as the holder of the intellectual property develops and markets a suitable deck and ruleset for the game, while others lack sufficient descriptions of rules, or depend on cards or other hardware that are infeasible or physically impossible.


title: Card game

text: Any specific card game imposes restrictions on the number of players. The most significant dividing lines run between one-player games and two-player games, and between two-player games and multi-player games. Card games for one player are known as "solitaire" or "patience" card games. (See list of solitaire card games.) Generally speaking, they are in many ways special and atypical, although some of them have given rise to two- or multi-player games such as Spite and Malice.


title: Card game

text: In card games for two players, usually not all cards are distributed to the players, as they would otherwise have perfect information about the game state. Two-player games have always been immensely popular and include some of the most significant card games such as piquet, bezique, sixty-six, klaberjass, gin rummy and cribbage. Many multi-player games started as two-player games that were adapted to a greater number of players. For such adaptations a number of non-obvious choices must be made beginning with the choice of a game orientation.


title: Card game

text: One way of extending a two-player game to more players is by building two teams of equal size. A common case is four players in two fixed partnerships, sitting crosswise as in whist and contract bridge. Partners sit opposite to each other and cannot see each other's hands. If communication between the partners is allowed at all, then it is usually restricted to a specific list of permitted signs and signals. 17th-century French partnership games such as triomphe were special in that partners sat next to each other and were allowed to communicate freely so long as they did not exchange cards or play out of order.


title: Card game

text: Another way of extending a two-player game to more players is as a "cut-throat" game, in which all players fight on their own, and win or lose alone. Most cut-throat card games are "round games", i.e. they can be played by any number of players starting from two or three, so long as there are enough cards for all.


title: Card game

text: For some of the most interesting games such as ombre, tarot and skat, the associations between players change from hand to hand. Ultimately players all play on their own, but for each hand, some game mechanism divides the players into two teams. Most typically these are "solo games", i.e. games in which one player becomes the soloist and has to achieve some objective against the others, who form a team and win or lose all their points jointly. But in games for more than three players, there may also be a mechanism that selects two players who then have to play against the others.


title: Card game

text: The players of a card game normally form a circle around a table or other space that can hold cards. The "game orientation" or "direction of play", which is only relevant for three or more players, can be either clockwise or counterclockwise. It is the direction in which various roles in the game proceed. (In real-time card games, there may be no need for a direction of play.) Most regions have a traditional direction of play, such as:


title: Card game

text: Europe is roughly divided into a clockwise area in the north and a counterclockwise area in the south. The boundary runs between England, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Austria (mostly), Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia (clockwise) and France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Balkans, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (counterclockwise).


title: Card game

text: Games that originate in a region with a strong preference are often initially played in the original direction, even in regions that prefer the opposite direction. For games that have official rules and are played in tournaments, the direction of play is often prescribed in those rules.


title: Card game

text: Most games have some form of asymmetry between players. The roles of players are normally expressed in terms of the "dealer", i.e. the player whose task it is to shuffle the cards and distribute them to the players. Being the dealer can be a (minor or major) advantage or disadvantage, depending on the game. Therefore, after each played hand, the deal normally passes to the next player according to the game orientation.


title: Card game

text: As it can still be an advantage or disadvantage to be the first dealer, there are some standard methods for determining who is the first dealer. A common method is by cutting, which works as follows. One player shuffles the deck and places it on the table. Each player lifts a packet of cards from the top, reveals its bottom card, and returns it to the deck. The player who reveals the highest (or lowest) card becomes dealer. In the case of a tie, the process is repeated by the tied players. For some games such as whist this process of cutting is part of the official rules, and the hierarchy of cards for the purpose of cutting (which need not be the same as that used otherwise in the game) is also specified. But in general, any method can be used, such as tossing a coin in case of a two-player game, drawing cards until one player draws an ace, or rolling dice.


title: Card game

text: A "hand" is a unit of the game that begins with the dealer shuffling and dealing the cards as described below, and ends with the players scoring and the next dealer being determined. The set of cards that each player receives and holds in his or her hands is also known as that player's hand.


title: Card game

text: The hand is over when the players have finished playing their hands. Most often this occurs when one player (or all) has no cards left. The player who sits after the dealer in the direction of play is known as eldest hand (or in two-player games as elder hand) or forehand. A "game round" consists of as many hands as there are players. After each hand, the deal is passed on in the direction of play, i.e. the previous eldest hand becomes the new dealer. Normally players score points after each hand. A game may consist of a fixed number of rounds. Alternatively it can be played for a fixed number of points. In this case it is over with the hand in which a player reaches the target score.


title: Card game

text: Shuffling is the process of bringing the cards of a pack into a random order. There are a large number of techniques with various advantages and disadvantages. "Riffle shuffling" is a method in which the deck is divided into two roughly equal-sized halves that are bent and then released, so that the cards interlace. Repeating this process several times randomizes the deck well, but the method is harder to learn than some others and may damage the cards. The "overhand shuffle" and the "Hindu shuffle" are two techniques that work by taking batches of cards from the top of the deck and reassembling them in the opposite order. They are easier to learn but must be repeated more often. A method suitable for small children consists in spreading the cards on a large surface and moving them around before picking up the deck again. This is also the most common method for shuffling tiles such as dominoes.


title: Card game

text: For casino games that are played for large sums it is vital that the cards be properly randomized, but for many games this is less critical, and in fact player experience can suffer when the cards are shuffled too well. The official skat rules stipulate that the cards are "shuffled well", but according to a decision of the German skat court, a one-handed player should ask another player to do the shuffling, rather than use a shuffling machine, as it would shuffle the cards "too" well. French belote rules go so far as to prescribe that the deck never be shuffled between hands.


title: Card game

text: The dealer takes all of the cards in the pack, arranges them so that they are in a uniform stack, and shuffles them. In strict play, the dealer then offers the deck to the previous player (in the sense of the game direction) for "cutting". If the deal is clockwise, this is the player to the dealer's right; if counterclockwise, it is the player to the dealer's left. The invitation to cut is made by placing the pack, face downward, on the table near the player who is to cut: who then lifts the upper portion of the pack clear of the lower portion and places it alongside. (Normally the two portions have about equal size. Strict rules often indicate that each portion must contain a certain minimum number of cards, such as three or five.) The formerly lower portion is then replaced on top of the formerly upper portion. Instead of cutting, one may also knock on the deck to indicate that one trusts the dealer to have shuffled fairly.


title: Card game

text: The actual "deal" (distribution of cards) is done in the direction of play, beginning with eldest hand. The dealer holds the pack, face down, in one hand, and removes cards from the top of it with his or her other hand to distribute to the players, placing them face down on the table in front of the players to whom they are dealt. The cards may be dealt one at a time, or in batches of more than one card; and either the entire pack or a determined number of cards are dealt out. The undealt cards, if any, are left face down in the middle of the table, forming the "stock" (also called the talon, widow, skat or kitty depending on the game and region).


title: Card game

text: Throughout the shuffle, cut, and deal, the dealer should prevent the players from seeing the faces of any of the cards. The players should not try to see any of the faces. Should a player accidentally see a card, other than one's own, proper etiquette would be to admit this. It is also dishonest to try to see cards as they are dealt, or to take advantage of having seen a card. Should a card accidentally become exposed, (visible to all), any player can demand a redeal (all the cards are gathered up, and the shuffle, cut, and deal are repeated) or that the card be replaced randomly into the deck ("burning" it) and a replacement dealt from the top to the player who was to receive the revealed card.


title: Card game

text: When the deal is complete, all players pick up their cards, or "hand", and hold them in such a way that the faces can be seen by the holder of the cards but not the other players, or vice versa depending on the game. It is helpful to fan one's cards out so that if they have corner indices all their values can be seen at once. In most games, it is also useful to sort one's hand, rearranging the cards in a way appropriate to the game. For example, in a trick-taking game it may be easier to have all one's cards of the same suit together, whereas in a rummy game one might sort them by rank or by potential combinations.


title: Card game

text: A new card game starts in a small way, either as someone's invention, or as a modification of an existing game. Those playing it may agree to change the rules as they wish. The rules that they agree on become the "house rules" under which they play the game. A set of house rules may be accepted as valid by a group of players wherever they play, as it may also be accepted as governing all play within a particular house, café, or club.


title: Card game

text: When a game becomes sufficiently popular, so that people often play it with strangers, there is a need for a generally accepted set of rules. This need is often met when a particular set of house rules becomes generally recognized. For example, when Whist became popular in 18th-century England, players in the Portland Club agreed on a set of house rules for use on its premises. Players in some other clubs then agreed to follow the "Portland Club" rules, rather than go to the trouble of codifying and printing their own sets of rules. The Portland Club rules eventually became generally accepted throughout England and Western cultures.


title: Card game

text: There is nothing static or "official" about this process. For the majority of games, there is no one set of universal rules by which the game is played, and the most common ruleset is no more or less than that. Many widely played card games, such as Canasta and Pinochle, have no official regulating body. The most common ruleset is often determined by the most popular distribution of rulebooks for card games. Perhaps the original compilation of popular playing card games was collected by Edmund Hoyle, a self-made authority on many popular parlor games. The U.S. Playing Card Company now owns the eponymous Hoyle brand, and publishes a series of rulebooks for various families of card games that have largely standardized the games' rules in countries and languages where the rulebooks are widely distributed. However, players are free to, and often do, invent "house rules" to supplement or even largely replace the "standard" rules.


title: Card game

text: If there is a sense in which a card game can have an "official" set of rules, it is when that card game has an "official" governing body. For example, the rules of tournament bridge are governed by the World Bridge Federation, and by local bodies in various countries such as the American Contract Bridge League in the U.S., and the English Bridge Union in England. The rules of skat are governed by The International Skat Players Association and, in Germany, by the "Deutscher Skatverband" which publishes the "Skatordnung". The rules of French tarot are governed by the Fédération Française de Tarot. The rules of Poker's variants are largely traditional, but enforced by the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour organizations which sponsor tournament play. Even in these cases, the rules must only be followed exactly at games sanctioned by these governing bodies; players in less formal settings are free to implement agreed-upon supplemental or substitute rules at will.


title: Card game

text: An infraction is any action which is against the rules of the game, such as playing a card when it is not one's turn to play or the accidental exposure of a card, informally known as "bleeding."


title: Card game

text: In many official sets of rules for card games, the rules specifying the penalties for various infractions occupy more pages than the rules specifying how to play correctly. This is tedious but necessary for games that are played seriously. Players who intend to play a card game at a high level generally ensure before beginning that all agree on the penalties to be used. When playing privately, this will normally be a question of agreeing house rules. In a tournament, there will probably be a tournament director who will enforce the rules when required and arbitrate in cases of doubt.


title: Card game

text: If a player breaks the rules of a game deliberately, this is cheating. The rest of this section is therefore about accidental infractions, caused by ignorance, clumsiness, inattention, etc.


title: Card game

text: As the same game is played repeatedly among a group of players, precedents build up about how a particular infraction of the rules should be handled. For example, "Sheila just led a card when it wasn't her turn. Last week when Jo did that, we agreed ... etc." Sets of such precedents tend to become established among groups of players, and to be regarded as part of the house rules. Sets of house rules may become formalized, as described in the previous section. Therefore, for some games, there is a "proper" way of handling infractions of the rules. But for many games, without governing bodies, there is no standard way of handling infractions.


title: Card game

text: In many circumstances, there is no need for special rules dealing with what happens after an infraction. As a general principle, the person who broke a rule should not benefit from it, and the other players should not lose by it. An exception to this may be made in games with fixed partnerships, in which it may be felt that the partner(s) of the person who broke a rule should also not benefit. The penalty for an accidental infraction should be as mild as reasonable, consistent with there being a possible benefit to the person responsible.


title: Card game

text: The oldest surviving reference to the card game in world history is from the 9th century China, when the "Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang", written by Tang-dynasty writer Su E, described Princess (daughter of Emperor Yizong of Tang) playing the "leaf game" with members of the Wei clan (the family of the princess's husband) in 868 . The Song dynasty statesman and historian Ouyang Xiu has noted that paper playing cards arose in connection to an earlier development in the book format from scrolls to pages.


title: Card game

text: Playing cards first appeared in Europe in the last quarter of the 14th century. The earliest European references speak of a Saracen or Moorish game called "naib", and in fact an almost complete Mamluk Egyptian deck of 52 cards in a distinct oriental design has survived from around the same time, with the four suits "swords", "polo sticks", "cups" and "coins" and the ranks "king", "governor", "second governor", and "ten" to "one".


title: Card game

text: The 1430s in Italy saw the invention of the tarot deck, a full Latin-suited deck augmented by suitless cards with painted motifs that played a special role as trumps. Tarot card games are still played with (subsets of) these decks in parts of Central Europe. A full tarot deck contains 14 cards in each suit; low cards labeled 1–10, and court cards (jack), (cavalier/knight), (queen), and (king), plus the fool or excuse card, and 21 trump cards. In the 18th century the card images of the traditional Italian tarot decks became popular in cartomancy and evolved into "esoteric" decks used primarily for the purpose; today most tarot decks sold in North America are the occult type, and are closely associated with fortune telling. In Europe, "playing tarot" decks remain popular for games, and have evolved since the 18th century to use regional suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs in France; leaves, hearts, bells and acorns in Germany) as well as other familiar aspects of the English-pattern pack such as corner card indices and "stamped" card symbols for non-court cards. Decks differ regionally based on the number of cards needed to play the games; the French tarot consists of the "full" 78 cards, while Germanic, Spanish and Italian Tarot variants remove certain values (usually low suited cards) from the deck, creating a deck with as few as 32 cards.


title: Card game

text: The French suits were introduced around 1480 and, in France, mostly replaced the earlier Latin suits of "swords", "clubs", "cups" and "coins". (which are still common in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries as well as in some northern regions of Italy) The suit symbols, being very simple and single-color, could be stamped onto the playing cards to create a deck, thus only requiring special full-color card art for the court cards. This drastically simplifies the production of a deck of cards versus the traditional Italian deck, which used unique full-color art for each card in the deck. The French suits became popular in English playing cards in the 16th century (despite historic animosity between France and England), and from there were introduced to British colonies including North America. The rise of Western culture has led to the near-universal popularity and availability of French-suited playing cards even in areas with their own regional card art.


title: Card game

text: In Japan, a distinct 48-card hanafuda deck is popular. It is derived from 16th-century Portuguese decks, after undergoing a long evolution driven by laws enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate attempting to ban the use of playing cards


title: Card game

text: The best-known deck internationally is the English pattern of the 52-card French deck, also called the International or Anglo-American pattern, used for such games as poker and contract bridge. It contains one card for each unique combination of thirteen "ranks" and the four French "suits" "spades", "hearts", "diamonds", and "clubs". The ranks (from highest to lowest in bridge and poker) are "ace", "king", "queen", "jack" (or "knave"), and the numbers from "ten" down to "two" (or "deuce"). The trump cards and "knight" cards from the French playing tarot are not included.


title: Card game

text: Originally the term "knave" was more common than "jack"; the card had been called a jack as part of the terminology of All-Fours since the 17th century, but the word was considered vulgar. (Note the exclamation by Estella in Charles Dickens's novel "Great Expectations": "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!") However, because the card abbreviation for knave ("Kn") was so close to that of the king, it was very easy to confuse them, especially after suits and rankings were moved to the corners of the card in order to enable people to fan them in one hand and still see all the values. (The earliest known deck to place suits and rankings in the corner of the card is from 1693, but these cards did not become common until after 1864 when Hart reintroduced them along with the knave-to-jack change.) However, books of card games published in the third quarter of the 19th century evidently still referred to the "knave", and the term with this definition is still recognized in the United Kingdom.


title: Card game

text: In the 17th century, a French, five-trick, gambling game called Bête became popular and spread to Germany, where it was called La Bete and England where it was named Beast. It was a derivative of Triomphe and was the first card game in history to introduce the concept of bidding.


title: Card game

text: Chinese handmade mother-of-pearl gaming counters were used in scoring and bidding of card games in the West during the approximate period of 1700–1840. The gaming counters would bear an engraving such as a coat of arms or a monogram to identify a family or individual. Many of the gaming counters also depict Chinese scenes, flowers or animals. Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, is one prominent British individual who is known to have played with the Chinese gaming counters. Card games such as Ombre, Quadrille and Pope Joan were popular at the time and required counters for scoring. The production of counters declined after Whist, with its different scoring method, became the most popular card game in the West.


title: Card game

text: Based on the association of card games and gambling, Pope Benedict XIV banned card games on October 17, 1750.


title: Teddy Geiger

text: Teresa Geiger (born September 16, 1988) also known by her stage name Teddy Geiger, is an American artist, songwriter and record producer.


title: Teddy Geiger

text: Geiger was born on September 16, 1988, to Lorilyn Rizzo-Bridges and John Theodore Geiger, I. She has two siblings, brother A. J. and sister Rachel. Geiger attended McQuaid Jesuit High School.


title: Teddy Geiger

text: Originally signed to Columbia Records as a teenager, Geiger's debut album, "Underage Thinking", released in 2006, peaked at number eight on the US Billboard 200 albums chart and spawned two singles, "For You I Will (Confidence)" and "These Walls."


title: Teddy Geiger

text: Geiger's second album, "The Last Fears", was released in 2013 through iTunes and Spotify. The album involved many peers and collaborators including John Ryan, A Great Big World, Holly Miranda, Theo Katzman, as well as Levon Helm's producer and musical director Larry Campbell.


title: Teddy Geiger

text: Geiger released her third album, "LillyAnna" under the name Teddy <3 or teddy❤, in 2018. The album received some acclaim from the likes of "New York Times", "Paper", "Billboard", and "Rolling Stone".


title: Teddy Geiger

text: Geiger came out as a trans woman in October 2017, and has said that she "knew she was female at 5 years old." She has also said that she intends to keep the name Teddy and use female pronouns.


title: Teddy Geiger

text: She was engaged to Canadian actress Emily Hampshire, but they ended their engagement in June 2019 after seven months.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The economy of Saudi Arabia is the largest in the Middle East and the eighteenth largest in the world. A permanent and founding member of the OPEC, Saudi Arabia is also a member of the G20 forum as one of the world's largest economies.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: With an estimated value of 34.40 trillion, Saudi Arabia has the third most valuable natural resource reserves in the world, mostly petroleum and natural gas. The kingdom has the second-largest proven petroleum reserves, and the fourth-largest measured natural gas reserves. Saudi Arabia is currently the largest exporter of petroleum in the world. Other major parts of the economy include refining and chemical manufacturing from the oil reserves, much of which is vertically integrated in the state-owned enterprise, Saudi Aramco.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The economy of Saudi Arabia functions as a petrostate, and the country plays a prominent role in the OPEC. In 2016, the Saudi government launched its Saudi Vision 2030 program to reduce its dependency on oil and diversify its economic resources. In the first quarter of 2019, Saudi Arabia's budget had its first surplus since 2016. This surplus of $10.10 billion was achieved due to an increase in oil and non-oil revenues.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2021 (with IMF staff estimates in 2022–2027). Inflation under 5% is in green.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi oil reserves are the second largest in the world (after Brazilian-Venezuelan Oil Reserves), and Saudi Arabia is the world's leading oil exporter and second-largest oil producer. Proven reserves, according to figures provided by the Saudi government, are estimated to be , which is about one-quarter of the world oil reserves. Petroleum in Saudi Arabia is not only plentiful but also located under pressure close to the earth's surface, which makes it less expensive and more profitable to extract compared to other places. The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 87% of Saudi budget revenues, 90% of export earnings, and 42% of GDP. Saudi Arabia's oil reserves and production are largely managed by the state-owned corporation Saudi Aramco.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Another 40% of the GDP comes from the private sector. An estimated 7.5 (2013) million foreigners work legally in Saudi Arabia and play a crucial role in developing the Saudi economy; for example, in the oil and service sectors. The government has been encouraging the growth of the private sector growth for many years to decrease the kingdom's dependence on oil and to increase employment opportunities for the swelling Saudi population. In recent decades, the government started to prohibit private sector and foreign investors participation in such sectors as power generation and telecom and acceded to the World Trade Organization. During much of the 2000s, high oil prices allowed the government to post budget surpluses, boost spending on job trainings and education, infrastructure development, and government salaries.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: With its absolute monarchy, large state sector, and supply of welfare benefits, the Saudi economy has been described asː


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The gross domestic product and real gross domestic income of Saudi Arabia fluctuates dramatically according to the oil price.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund and other sources, with figures in millions of Saudi Arabian Riyals (SR). Mean wages were $14.74 per man-hour in 2009.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia was a subsistence economy until the 1930s. In 1933, the Saudi government signed an oil concession agreement with the Standard Oil Company of California. The development of oil fields continued in Saudi Arabia, managed mainly by Aramco, a company formed by the partnership of Texaco and Chevron. In 1951, the first offshore field in the Middle East was established by the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) at Raʾs Al-Saffāniyyah area. By 1949, Saudi oil production reached 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) and rose rapidly to 1 million bpd in 1954. Moreover, in 1951, Aramco started operating the Trans-Arabian Pipeline that moved oil from the eastern region of Saudi Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea through Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. However, in 1981, this line was no longer used after a new line began operations that linked Jubail on the Persian Gulf and Yunbu on the Red Sea. The new pipe contributed greatly to shorten the oil transport. In 1960, OPEC was created, with Saudi Arabia as one of its founding members. During the 1973 oil crisis, the price of oil rose from $3 per barrel to nearly $12, and the Saudi economy started growing rapidly, with GDP increasing from approximately $15 billion in 1973 to almost $184 billion by 1981. After gradually purchasing Aramco assets, the Saudi government nationalized the company in 1980. In 1988, Saudi Aramco was established to take over the responsibilities of Aramco.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1980, the price of oil peaked, and demand started decreasing as a result of recessions in industrialized nations and more efficient oil use, which produced surpluses. This created a worldwide oil glut, with the price of oil dropping from approximately $36 per barrel in 1980 to approximately $14 by 1986. Saudi oil production, which had increased to almost per day during 1980–81, decreased to about in 1985. Budgetary deficits developed, and the government drew down its foreign assets. As a result of the oil glut and the pressure from declines in production, after 1985 Saudi Arabia started enforcing production quotas more harshly for the OPEC members.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In June 1993, Saudi Aramco absorbed the state marketing and refining company (SAMAREC), becoming the world's largest fully integrated oil company. Most Saudi oil is exported by tankers from oil terminals at Ras Tanura and Ju'aymah in the Persian Gulf. The remaining oil for export is transported via the east–west pipeline across the kingdom to the Red Sea port Yanbu. A major new gas initiative was supposed to attract significant investments from the American and European oil companies to develop non-associated gas fields in three separate parts of Saudi Arabia. Following final technical agreements with concession awardees in December 2001, development should have started in 2002.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: However, beginning in late 1997, Saudi Arabia again faced the challenge of low oil prices. Because of a combination of factors—the East Asian economic crises, a warm winter in the West caused by El Niño, and an increase in non-OPEC oil production—demand for oil decreased and pulled oil prices down by more than one-third.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia was a key player in coordinating the successful 1999 campaign of OPEC and other oil-producing countries to raise the oil price to its highest level since the (Persian) Gulf War by managing petroleum supply and production. That same year, Saudi Arabia established the Supreme Economic Council to formulate and better coordinate economic development policies to accelerate institutional and industrial reforms.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Before 2000, there were strict limits placed on foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia. The 1979 Foreign Investment Act prohibited foreign ownership in some sectors of the economy, allowed foreign investment only if the investor qualified for a license based on their expertise, and gave priority to businesses that were Saudi-owned or partially Saudi-owned.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: However, in the mid 1990s, foreign ownership rules were relaxed, with investment sought in telecommunications, utilities, and financial services. The 2000 Foreign Direct Investment Act made substantial changes to the rules on foreign investment, including for the first time allowing projects to be run by 100% foreign-owned companies.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Since 2008, extensive Saudi land investment has taken place, especially in Africa. For more, see the section on the Non-petroleum sector.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to UNCTAD's June 2018 report, Saudi Arabia's foreign direct investment was only $1.4 billion in 2017, down from $7.5 billion the year before and as much as $12.2 billion in 2012. The fall in investment is attributed to negative intra-company loans by foreign multinationals and various divestments. In the first quarter of 2018, net capital outflows were running at approximately 5% of GDP, compared to less than 2% of GDP in late 2016. However, according to a report published in Trading Economics, in the second quarter of 2018, foreign direct investment in the country raised by $882 million. Moreover, SAGIA's data indicate that licenses provided to foreign investment increased by 130% in the first quarter of 2018 as a result of reforms in the economy.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: As Saudi oil income declined in the late 2010s, the Kingdom's international debt soared. In December 2018, Saudi Arabia announced it would be issuing bonds worth approximately 120 billion riyals ($32 billion) to cover its 4.2% GDP deficit of 131 billion riyals. In January 2019, the kingdom sold bonds worth $7.5 billion. In almost two and a half years, bonds worth $60 billion were sold by Saudi, which became one of the biggest borrowers globally.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Foreign investments in the Kingdom witnessed a rapid increase in the first quarter of 2019. The number of new licenses approved for foreign businesses grew 70% over 2018. Most licenses were approved for British and Chinese companies, which have driven this increase. In the first quarter of 2019, foreign investment in Saudi Arabia jumped by 28%.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The government has sought to allocate its petroleum income to transform its relatively undeveloped, oil-based economy into a modern industrial state, while maintaining the kingdom's traditional Islamic values and customs. Although economic planners have not achieved all their goals, the economy has progressed rapidly. Oil wealth has increased the standard of living of most Saudis. However, significant population growth has strained the government's ability to finance further improvements in the country's standard of living. Heavy dependence on petroleum revenue continues, but industry and agriculture now account for a larger share of economic activity. The mismatch between the job skills of Saudi graduates and the needs of the private job market at all levels remains the principal obstacle to economic diversification and development; about 4.6 million non-Saudis are employed in the economy.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia first began to diversify its economy to reduce dependency on oil in the 1970s as part of its first five-year development plan. Basic petrochemical industries using petroleum byproducts as feedstock were developed. The fishing villages of al-Jubail on the Persian Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea were developed. However, their effect on Saudi Arabia's economic fortunes has been small.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia's first two development plans, covering the 1970s, emphasized infrastructure. The results were impressive—the total length of paved highways tripled, power generation increased by a multiple of 28, and the capacity of the seaports grew tenfold. For the third plan (1980–85), the emphasis changed. Spending on infrastructure declined, but it rose markedly on education, health, and social services. The share for diversifying and expanding productive sectors of the economy (primary industry) did not rise as planned, but the two industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu—were built around the use of the country's oil and gas to produce steel, petrochemicals, fertilizer, and refined oil products—were largely completed.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In the fourth plan (1985–90), the country's basic infrastructure was viewed as largely complete, but education and training remained areas of concern. Private enterprise was encouraged, and foreign investment in the form of joint ventures with Saudi public and private companies was welcomed. The private sector became more important, rising to 70% of non-oil GDP by 1987. While still concentrated in trade and commerce, private investment increased in industry, agriculture, banking, and construction companies. These private investments were supported by generous government financing and incentive programs. The objective was for the private sector to have 70% to 90% ownership in most joint venture enterprises.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The fifth plan (1990–95) emphasized consolidation of the country's defences; improved and more efficient government social services; regional development; and, most importantly, creating greater private-sector employment opportunities for Saudis by reducing the number of foreign workers.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The sixth plan (1996–2000) focused on lowering the cost of government services without cutting them and sought to expand educational training programs. The plan called for reducing the kingdom's dependence on the petroleum sector by diversifying economic activity, particularly in the private sector, with special emphasis on industry and agriculture. It also continued the effort to "Saudize" the labour force.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The seventh plan (2000–2004) focuses more on economic diversification and a greater role of the private sector in the Saudi economy. For 2000–04, the government aims at an average GDP growth rate of 3.16% each year, with projected growths of 5.04% for the private sector and 4.01% for the non-oil sector. The government also has set a target of creating 817,300 new jobs for Saudi nationals.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The main investing countries in Saudi Arabia in 2016 were the US, UAE, France, Singapore, Kuwait and Malaysia. They mainly invested in chemical industry, real estate, tourism, fossil fuels, automobiles and machinery. As part of its diversification, Saudi Arabia has been inking major refinery contracts with Chinese and other companies.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: As Saudi Arabia became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005, an improvement took place in the overall environment of foreign investment in Saudi Arabia due to many reasons including, the stable economy, the fact that the kingdom has the largest oil reserves worldwide, the high power of expenditure, the good infrastructure system, reinforced finance and a good banking system. Since that time and pursuant to its commitment to the WTO, Saudi Arabia has been developing trade-related policies and legislations. Moreover, foreign investment has been highly encouraged recently with the announcement of The Saudi vision 2030 as it promises better economic diversification.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Since 2017, to boost the economy and decrease the country's dependency on oil, Mohammed bin Salman has brought multiple changes, including the raising prices of gasoline and electricity, introducing new taxes, and the policy of Saudi workers over foreign workers. However, the government officials said the policies were causing serious effects on the economy. Saudi businessmen reported a decline in sales for 2018, blaming the government.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2019, Financial Times reported that the plans to float state-owned oil beneficiary Saudi Aramco were stranded between the company's attachment to the ministry and the need to meet international standards. A person close to the firm stated, "The IPO is seen as a sensible way to clear up the company." On the other hand, Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih has long maintained that Aramco's association with the state is a "win-win policy" for both parties.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia has announced plans to invest about $47bn in three of the world's largest and most ambitious petrochemical projects. These include the $27 billion Ras Tanura integrated refinery and petrochemical project, the $9 billion Saudi Kayan petrochemical complex at Jubail Industrial City, and the $10 billion Petro Rabigh refinery upgrade project. Together, the three projects will employ more than 150,000 technicians and engineers working around the clock. Upon completion in 2015–16, the Ras Tanura project will become the world's largest petrochemical facility of its kind with a combined production capacity of 11 million tons per year of different petrochemical and chemical products. The products will include ethylene, propylene, aromatics, polyethylene, ethylene oxide, chlorine derivatives, and glycol.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia had plans to launch six "economic cities" (e.g., King Abdullah Economic City, to be completed by 2020) in an effort to diversify the economy and provide jobs. They are being built at a cost of $60bn (2013) and are "expected to contribute $150bn to the economy".


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The privatization program, part of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's Vision 2030, is running behind the schedule. Oil prices have doubled since the government began to consider the program in 2015. Delay in Aramco's initial public offering further highlights the lack of urgency to privatize, even though in July 2018, the International Monetary Fund urged accelerating the process.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to many reports, the Saudi government is greatly interested in giving more liberty to the foreign investment system and in giving a 100% allowance to foreign investors to work in the wholesale and retail sector in particular cases.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment expects the Kingdom will see an increase in the GDP per capita from US$20,700 to 33,500 by 2020.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: As Vision 2030 has been recently adopted by the Saudi government, several reforms have been undertaken including improving the business environment and reform in the financial sector. Moreover, the government has been seeking to achieve greater transparency by issuing a draft law regarding the involvement of the private sector. Another reform move has been undertaken to increase manpower in the private sector.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: As of 2008, roughly two-thirds of workers employed in Saudi Arabia were foreigners, and in the private sector approximately 90%. In January 2014, the Saudi government claimed it had lowered the 90% rate, doubling the number of Saudi citizens working in the private sector to 1.5 million (This compares to 10 million foreign expatriates working in the kingdom.).


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to Reuters, economists "estimate only 30–40 percent of working-age Saudis hold jobs or actively seek work," although the official unemployment rate is only around 12 percent. Most Saudis with jobs are employed by the government, but the International Monetary Fund has warned that the government cannot support such a large payroll in the long term. The government has announced a succession of plans since 2000 to deal with the imbalance by "Saudization" of the economy, but the foreign workforce and unemployment has continued to grow. Since the beginning of 2017, however, Saudi Arabia has seen record numbers of foreign workers leaving the country as the Saudi government imposed higher fees on expatriate workers, with more than 677,000 foreigners leaving the kingdom. This has done little to lower the unemployment rate, which rose to 12.9 percent, the highest on record.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: One obstacle is social resistance to certain types of employment. Jobs in service and sales are considered totally unacceptable for citizens of Saudi Arabia—both to potential employees and customers.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia has natural resources other than oil, including small mineral deposits of gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, tungsten, lead, sulphur, phosphate, soapstone and feldspar. The country has a small agricultural sector, primarily in the southwest where annual rainfall averages . The country is one of the world's largest producers of dates. For some years it grew very expensive wheat using desalinated water for irrigation, but plans to stop by 2016. As of 2009, the livestock population amounted to 7.4 million sheep, 4.2 million goats, half a million camels and a quarter of a million cattle.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Although the jobs created by the roughly two million annual "hajj" pilgrims do not last long, the hajj employs more people than the oil industry—40,000 temporary jobs (butchers, barbers, coach drivers, etc.)—and generates US$2–3 billion in revenue.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2008, the "Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad" was launched, leading to extensive billion-dollar purchases of large tracts of land around the world: Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mali, Senegal, Sudan and others. Critics see cases of land-grabbing in various instances that also lead to uproars in the respective countries. Competing industrialising nations with food security problems in the quest for agricultural land are China, South Korea and India as well as the Persian Gulf States Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2016, Mohammad bin Salman announced Saudi Vision 2030, a plan to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: One of the fastest growing sectors in the country has been real estate supported by the introduction of real estate investment trusts (REITs) market which has witnessed a significant growth in the number of REITs, although this is yet to achieve its full potential despite some shortages in both residential and commercial real estate. A number of regional experts believe that most issues will be resolved as the market becomes more mature.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Real estate plays a fundamental role in the country's non-oil economy. In 2016, the value of real estate transactions including sales of existing units amounted to $74.91 billion from 15 October to 16 September. That is a major drop compared to the number of transactions recorded a decade earlier, which reached $239.93 billion. The real estate sector has been driven recently by strong local demand fundamentals and only a small amount of speculation.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Ownership of land property in Saudi Arabia is generally restricted to Saudis, but this is subject to certain qualifications. For example, Gulf Cooperation Council ('GCC') nationals and GCC companies have certain rights to own land, subject to a number of restrictions. Foreigners (being non-GCC nationals) are entitled to ownership and investment of in real estate with some conditions. A foreign company needs to have a foreign investment licence from the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority ('SAGIA') and the owned real estate must be related to a particular investment project for property development. Where a foreign individual needs to have normal legal residency status and a permit from the Ministry of the Interior to own land or property.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The major expansion in this sector attracted the top real estate consultancies such as Jones Lang LaSalle, Knight Frank and Cluttons to the country who have now opened offices in the country. Beyond this, demand for professional real estate services is attracting regional educators such as DREI to provide courses on Saudi real estate, and even dedicated books focused on the market such as Saudi Real Estate Companion.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Real Estate plays an important role in the Saudi Vision 2030 which maps out significant commitments by the Saudi Government relating to housing and the development of land for a variety of uses. In particular, Vision 2030 states: 'Where it exists in strategic locations, we will also capitalize on the government's reserves of real estate. We will allocate prime areas within cities for educational institutions, retail, and entertainment centres, large areas along our coasts will be dedicated to tourist projects and appropriate lands will be allocated for industrial projects.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2016, new rules were introduced by the Capital Market Authority to form REITs. This aims at opening the real estate market to a wide range of investor. The REITs consist of units representing the ownership of the underlying real estate. These units are offered to the public and traded on the Saudi Stock Exchange.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The introduction of REITs was a part of the National Transformation program, one of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programs, and has targets of:


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2019, the Saudi government introduced the Premium Residency scheme, which allows wealthy investors of any nationality to purchase residency and buy and sell real estate.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2022, the US car company Lucid Motors announced plans to build an Electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Jeddah. Construction began in May 2022, and the plant will have capacity for 150,000 vehicles.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia's private sector is dominated by a handful of big businesses in the service sector, primarily in construction and real estate: Olayan, Zamil, Almarai, Mobily, STC, SABIC, Sadara, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Flynas, Hilton, Zain, Yanbu Cement, Alhokair, MBC, Mahfouz, Al Rajhi and Alfanar. These firms are "heavily dependent on government spending", which is dependent on oil revenues.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: From 2003 to 2013, "several key services" were privatized—municipal water supply, electricity, telecommunications—and parts of education and health care, traffic control and car accident reporting were also privatized. According to Arab News columnist Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, "in almost every one of these areas, consumers have raised serious concerns about the performance of these privatized entities."


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: To provide the best support for the private sector and entrepreneurs, The Kingdom announced a decision approved by the Saudi Cabinet, In July 2019, allowing businesses in the country to be given the option to remain open 24 hours a day.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In April 2000, the government established the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority to encourage foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia maintains a negative list of sectors in which foreign investment is prohibited, but the government plans to open some closed sectors such as telecommunications, insurance, and power transmission/distribution over time.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia became a full WTO Member on 11 December 2005. In 2019, the government established the General Authority for Foreign Trade to enhance the kingdom's international commercial and investment activities.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In early July 2020, Saudi Arabia announced the nomination of its former Minister of Economy and Saudi royal court adviser, Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, for the role of WTO's director-general. The nominations were made public about a month after the World Trade Organization reported the kingdom for copyrights infringement following distribution of pirated sports broadcasting content on the state-owned broadcast service, beoutQ. The nomination of al-Tuwaijri received criticism from human rights groups in mid-August 2020, demanding the rejection of the Saudi nominee due to the kingdom's violation of human rights in addition to his silence over it. On 7 October 2020, Al-Tuwaijri along with other nominees from the UK and Kenya, lost the bid for WTO due to lack of support for their bids, as compared to the nominees from Nigeria and South Korea who qualified for the final round of selection.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Among the challenges to the Saudi economy include halting or reversing the decline in per capita income, improving education to prepare youth for the workforce and providing them with employment, diversifying the economy, stimulating the private sector and housing construction, and diminishing corruption and inequality. In answer to the question of why the Saudi economy is so dependent on foreign labour, the UN Arab Human Development Report blamed stunted social and economic development inhibited by lack of personal freedom, poor education and government hiring based on factors other than merit, and exclusion of women.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Despite possessing the second largest petroleum reserves in the world, per capita income dropped from approximately $18,000 at the height of the oil boom (1981) to $7,000 in 2001, according to one estimate. As of 2013, due to the rapid population growth of Saudi Arabia, per capita income in Saudi was "a fraction of that of smaller Persian gulf neighbors", even less than petroleum-poor Bahrain.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Unlike most developed countries where gross domestic product growth is a function of increases in productivity and inputs such as employment, in Saudi the fluctuation of oil prices is the most important factor in the growth or decline of domestic production. "Saudi reserves are steadily being depleted, and no significant new discoveries have been found to replace them," according to Middle East journalist Karen House. Saudi population grew sevenfold from 1960 to 2010, and petrol prices are subsidized and cost users less than equivalent quantities of bottled water. With production stagnant, growth in population and domestic energy consumption means a decline in per capita income unless oil prices rise to match that growth.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi population is young. About 51% are under the age of 25 (as of Feb 2012). According to a 2013 report by the International Monetary Fund, up to 1.6 million young nationals of the Persian Gulf countries (of which Saudi Arabia is the largest) will enter the workforce from 2013 to 2018, but the economies of those countries will have jobs in the private sector for less than half (approximately 600,000).


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to "The Economist" magazine, the Saudi government has attempted in years past to raise employment by forcing "companies to fill at least 30% of their positions" with Saudi citizens. However, "employers complained bitterly about the lack of skills among young locals; years of rote-learning and religious instruction fail to prepare them for the job market." However, many argue that young Saudis couldn't compete with foreigners due to the low compensation and salaries most companies had used to offer for employees from Asian, Indian subcontinent, and other Arab poor countries, which this cheap labor happily accepts; in addition to the bad work conditions, culture, and environment most of the Saudi private sector has, which is largely due to the fact that this private sector was initially modeled to accommodate a very low income employees from other nations, not the Saudi medium income and somewhat highly educated population. As a consequence, "the quota has now been dropped and replaced with a more flexible system."


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to scholar David Commins, the kingdom depends "on huge numbers of expatriate workers to fill technical and administrative positions" in part because of an educational system that in spite of "generous budgets", has suffered from "poorly trained teachers, low retention rates, lack of rigorous standards, weak scientific and technical instruction and excessive attention to religious subjects".


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Another statistic conducted by Bayt.com shows that over a quarter (28%) of professionals believe that there is a skills shortage in their country of residence. This belief is more prominent among respondents in Saudi Arabia (39%).


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi has not been a hotbed of technological innovation. The number of Saudi patents registered in the United States between 1977 and 2010 came to 382—less than twelve per year—compared to 84,840 patents for South Korea or 20,620 for Israel during that period. However, in 2017 Saudi Arabia was granted 664 patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ranking the 23rd among 92 countries. The number of granted patents was double that of all Arab countries combined during the same period. Saudi hopes to increase technological innovation, particularly with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and thus to stimulate the economy.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: A business journalist (Karen House) criticizing the Saudi bureaucracy complained that someone seeking to start a business in Saudi Arabia:


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: A 2005 survey by the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce found that 77% of businessmen polled felt they had to 'bypass' the law to conduct their operations. Since then "businessmen say it has only gotten worse."


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia has been severely criticized for failing to tackle money laundering and international terrorism financing. A report released by the Financial Action Task Force on 24 September 2018, says, "Saudi Arabia is not effectively investigating and prosecuting individuals involved in larger scale or professional [money laundering] activity" and is "not effectively confiscating the proceeds of crime".


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Estimates of the number of Saudis below the poverty line range from between 12.7% and 25%. Press reports and private estimates as of 2013 "suggest that between 2 million and 4 million" of the country's native Saudis live on "less than about $530 a month" – about $17 a day – considered the poverty line in Saudi Arabia.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi state discourages calling attention to or complaining about poverty. In December 2011, days after the Arab Spring uprisings, the Saudi interior ministry detained reporter Feros Boqna and two colleagues (Hussam al-Drewesh and Khaled al-Rasheed) and held them for almost two weeks for questioning after they uploaded a 10-minute video on the topic ("Mal3ob 3alena", or 'We are being cheated') to YouTube. Authors of the video claim that 22% of Saudis are considered to be poor (2009) and 70% of Saudis do not own their houses.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Statistics on the issue are not available through the UN resources because the Saudi government does not issue poverty figures. Observers researching the issue prefer to stay anonymous because of the risk of being arrested, like Feras Boqna.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: 50% of Saudi Arabia's citizens own their own home, below the international average rate of 70%. It has risen from 30% in 2011 according to the most recent census results. In 2011, analysts estimated 500,000 new homes/year were needed to match the growth in Saudi population, but as of early 2014 only 300,000 to 400,000 houses/year were being built.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: One problem is that the government Real Estate Development Fund (REDF)—which provides 81% of all loans for housing—had an 18-year waiting list for loans due to pent-up demand. Another is that the REDF's maximum loan is 500,000 SR ($133,000), while in 2012 the average price for a small free-standing home in Riyadh is more than double that—1.23 million SR ($328,000). However, as a part of the economic reforms that has been undertaken by the government to enhance the living standards within the country, new funding solutions have been established to boost the mortgages for existing and new borrowers to help to finance their housing plans. This was announced in August 2018 by the minister of Housing Mr. Majed Al-Hogail.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: A major reason for the high cost of housing is the high cost of land. In urban areas, the price of land has been bid up because nearly all of it is owned by the Saudi elite (members of the royal family or other wealthy Saudis), who have lobbied the government for land "giveaways". Landlords have seen prices rocket by 50% from 2011 to 2013. The owners benefit from these price increases as they hold the land for future development. To deal with the key "land banking" issue the Housing Minister suggested in 2013 that landowners vacant within city limits could be subject to a tax. However, no firm plans for any tax have been unveiled.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to journalist Karen House, "every" Saudi five-year plan "since the first one in 1970" has called for diversifying the economy beyond oil, but with marginal success.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: As of 2007, manufacturing outside of the petroleum industry contributed 10% to Saudi Arabian GDP and less than 6% of total employment.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2018, the imposition of a 5% value-added tax brought private-sector growth to a halt. Consumer spending was also restrained after a sharp increase in prices for energy, electricity and water earlier in 2018. The kingdom witnessed a mass departure of around 750,000 foreign workers after imposing new government levies on ex-pat workers. The government is also forcing small-business owners to hire Saudi nationals at comparatively higher wages than foreign workers. Gaining money from large foreign direct investments is also not working in the favour of the government. Rich Saudis are reluctant to invest within the kingdom due to the fear of triggering government scrutiny. On 11 May 2020, the government announced that it would threefold the kingdom's VAT on goods and services, raising it from a current 5% to 15%. It also stated that the increase in VAT introduced due to the country's current financial crisis due to plummeting oil prices and impact of coronavirus, will also be followed by cut in monthly allowance for state workers worth approximately $266, and financial benefits for contractors.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Aramco decreased the production of its Arab Light grade of crude oil by a significant amount to be shipped to Asia. The firm also cut down oil pricing for its US buyers following wavering demand for fuel due to the global relapse of the coronavirus pandemic.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Saudi Arabia's inflation accelerated to 6.2% in August 2020, as compared to the same month last year. In the said report the annual inflation rate increased from only 0.5% (in June) to 6.1% (in July), before the increase of VAT to 15% from 5% was introduced, effective from 1 July 2020.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia has two stock exchanges, the Tadawul and The Saudi Parallel Market (Nomu) whose financial markets are regulated by the Capital Market Authority. The stock market capitalisation of listed companies in Saudi Arabia is valued at $2.22 Trillion. According to the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Business competitiveness in Saudi Arabia has witnessed an improvement better than any other country in the world as the Kingdom has jumped to 26th in the world with respect Business competitiveness.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia is among the countries with the most notable improvement in doing business according to the World Bank Group's Doing Business 2020 report. The country jumped 30 places to rank 62nd in ease of doing business compared to the last year.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: According to the World Bank, Saudi Arabia has conducted several reforms. These reforms have been made in eight business areas which are: starting a business, getting construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, protecting minority investors, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Previously, the country rated as the 92nd for ease of doing business, according to the World Bank in its annual "Doing Business" report issued for 2018. Since 2013, the Kingdom has declined in the overall Doing Business rankings, from 22nd to 92nd.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabian companies dominate 2009's "MEED 100", with companies listed on the Tadawul, accounting for 29 out of the region's 100 biggest publicly quoted companies ranked by market capitalization. Just three of the 20 companies that have dropped out of the top 100 over the past year are listed on the Saudi stock exchange.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Foreigners are allowed to wholly own limited liability companies in the majority of industries. Non-Saudi nationals are required to obtain a foreign capital investment license from the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: With a total of 291 foreign investor licenses issued in the second quarter of 2019, the Kingdom has witnessed an increase in international investment, reflecting the economic reforms under the Saudi Vision 2030. Obtaining a foreign investor license became more straightforward as it requires only two documents, and it is processed in three hours.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: A Somali businessman travelled to Saudi Arabia on 25 January 2021 to spread his home-health business in the country, which he had visited twice since 2017. On his arrival, Sharmarke Gaani, the New Albany businessman faced 3-day detention for no discernible reason. According to his statements, the detention facility was cramped, cold, and didn't offer masks despite housing 8 other inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gaani claimed that he suffered "mentally, physically and emotionally" and just wanted "justice". His call to the United States consulate in the country went unanswered. On the third day of his detention, Gaani was informed that he could leave, without receiving any explanation or apology for the incident.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Aramco (officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Co.) is Saudi Arabia's national oil, petroleum and natural gas company, based in Dhahran. Saudi Aramco has been listed for public trading on 10 December 2019 and has a valuation as of US$2 trillion as of 12 December 2019.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Aramco has both the second largest proven crude oil reserves, which it claims to be more than , and largest daily oil production. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco operates the world's largest single hydrocarbon network, the Master Gas System. Its yearly production is , and it managed over 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia, including 284.8 trillion standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas reserves. Saudi Aramco owns the Ghawar Field, the world's largest oil field, and the Shaybah Field, another one of the world's largest oil fields.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: On 16 November 2020, Saudi Aramco announced hiring banks to sell dollar-denominated bonds with the aim of improving finances after the coronavirus pandemic caused a sharp fall in the global demand for crude oil. Aramco's multi-tranche offer was set to run between 3 and 50 years, depending on the market conditions. The banks hired for the transaction included Citi Bank, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and NCB Capital. Other banks involved in the deal included BNP Paribas, BOC International, BofA Securities, Credit Agricole, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC Nikko and Societe Generale.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2021, Saudi Aramco made a net-income of 95.5 billion riyals ($25.5 billion) in the second quarter alone, which was the highest level since 2018.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation SABIC was established by a royal decree in 1976 to produce chemicals, polymers, and fertilizers. In 2008, SABIC was Asia's largest (in terms of market capitalization) and most profitable publicly listed non-oil company, the world's fourth-largest petrochemical company, ranked 186th as the world's largest corporation on the Fortune Global 500 for 2009, the second-largest producer of ethylene glycol and methanol in the world, the third-largest producer of polyethylene and overall the fourth-largest producer of polypropylene and polyolefin. Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings claimed SABIC to be the world's largest producer of polymers and the Persian Gulf region's largest steel producer for 2005 and assigned SABIC an "A" corporate credit rating. In 2008, Fortune 500 ranking records SABIC revenues at $40.2 billion, profits at $5.8 billion and assets standing at $72.4 billion.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Ma'aden was formed as a Saudi joint stock company on 23 March 1997 for the purpose of facilitating the development of Saudi Arabia's mineral resources. Ma'aden's activities have focused on its active gold business which has grown in recent years to include the operation of five gold mines: Mahd Ad Dahab, Al Hajar, Sukhaybarat, Bulghah, and Al Amar. Ma'aden is now expanding its activities beyond its gold business with the development of phosphates, aluminium, and other projects. In addition, since its formation, Ma'aden (through the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources) has collaborated with the government and local legislators to develop a regulatory framework for the governance of the mining industry.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia experienced a boom in computer use since deregulation in 2002. The amount of PCs per capita grew from 13% of the population owning a computer in 2002 to nearly 43% in 2005, leapfrogging the rest of West Asia. By 2018, 50.57% of the population owned computers. The electrical and electronic market was estimated to be around $3.5 billion in 2004.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi ICT sector has grown significantly over the last decade and is still showing strong growth. In 2012, ICT sector spending was recorded at SAR 94 billion, with 13.9% annual growth, and reached approximately SAR 102 billion in 2013, with approximately 14% annual growth.


title: Economy of Saudi Arabia

text: The e-commerce market was estimated at just over $1 billion in 2001, and grew to an estimated $7.7 billion in 2021.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: Alpha male and beta male, or simply put alpha and beta, are pseudoscientific terms for men derived from the designation for alpha and beta animals in ethology. They may also be used with other genders, such as women, or additionally use other letters of the Greek alphabet (such as sigma). The popularization of these terms to describe humans has been widely criticized by scientists.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: Both terms have been frequently used in internet memes. The term "beta" is used as a pejorative self-identifier among members of the manosphere, particularly incels, who do not believe they are assertive or traditionally masculine, and feel overlooked by women. It is also used to negatively describe other men who are not deemed to be assertive, particularly with women.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: The terms were used almost solely in animal ethology prior to the 1990s' particularly in regard to mating privileges with females, ability to hold territory, and hierarchy in terms of food consumption within their herd or flock. In animal ethology, "beta" refers to an animal who is subordinate to a higher-ranking members in the social hierarchy, thus having to wait to eat and having negligible or no opportunities for copulation.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: In the 1982 book of "Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes", primatologist and ethologist Frans de Waal suggested that his observations of a chimpanzee colony could possibly be applied to human interactions. Some commentary on the book, including in the "Chicago Tribune", discussed its parallels to human power hierarchies. In the early 1990s, some media outlets began to use the term "alpha" to refer to humans, specifically to "manly" men who excelled in business. Journalist Jesse Singal, writing in "New York" magazine, attributes the popular awareness of the terms to a 1999 "Time" magazine article, which described an opinion held by Naomi Wolf, who was at the time an advisor to then-presidential candidate Al Gore: "Wolf has argued internally that Gore is a 'Beta male' who needs to take on the 'Alpha male' in the Oval Office before the public will see him as the top dog." Singal also credits Neil Strauss's bestselling 2005 book on pickup artistry, titled "", for popularizing "alpha male" as an aspirational ideal.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: The view that there is a dominance hierarchy among humans consisting of "alpha males" and "beta males" is sometimes reported in the mainstream media. The term "alpha male" is often applied to any dominating man, especially bullies, despite the fact that dominating behaviour is rarely seen as a positive trait for either an ideal date or a romantic partner. Claims about women being "hard-wired" to desire "alpha males" are seen by experts as misogynistic and stereotypical, and are not supported by research. Evolutionary psychologists who study human mating behaviour instead believe that humans use two distinct strategies –– dominance and prestige –– for climbing social hierarchies, and that prestige plays a significantly more important role in establishing men's attractiveness to women than does dominance. As cognitive scientists Scott Barry Kaufman summarizes: Taken together, the research suggests that the ideal man (for a date or romantic partner) is one who is assertive, confident, easygoing, and sensitive, without being aggressive, demanding, dominant, quiet, shy, or submissive. In other words, a "prestigious man", not a dominant man. In fact, it appears that the prestigious man who is high in both assertiveness "and" kindness is considered the "most" attractive to women for both short-term affairs and long-term relationships. Misconceptions about "alpha males" are common within the manosphere, a collection of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting masculinity, strong opposition to feminism, and misogyny which includes movements such as the men's rights movement, incels (involuntary celibates), Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), pick-up artists (PUA), and fathers' rights groups.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: The term "beta" is also often used among manosphere communities to refer to men they consider easily taken advantage of or ignored by women. Its usage is inconsistent; media studies scholar Debbie Ging has described the communities' theories about "alpha, beta, omega, and zeta masculinity" as "confused and contradictory". "Beta" is sometimes used as self-identifier among men who do not embody hegemonic masculinity. It is also sometimes used by manospherians as a pejorative term for men who are or are perceived to be feminist, or who are thought to be acting as a "". Some manosphere groups refer to members of other groups in the manosphere as "betas"; for example, members of the MGTOW community sometimes use it to refer to men's rights activists or incels. Members of the pickup artist (PUA) communities use it to refer to men who cannot seduce women. Similar terms used by the manosphere communities include "nice guy", "cuck", , and "soy boy".


title: Alpha and beta male

text: In the manosphere, the term "alpha fux beta bux" presupposes a sexual strategy of hypergamy or "marrying up" among women whereby they prefer and have sex with "alpha" males, but settle for less attractive "beta" males for financial reasons. Sometimes it expresses a belief that women marry beta males to exploit them financially, while continuing to have extramarital sex with alpha males. Ging explains these beliefs as an effort by young men in the Western world to cope with their limited economic prospects following the 2007–2008 financial crisis by appealing to gender-essentialist notions of gold-digging women popular in postfeminist culture.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: A "beta orbiter" is a beta male who invests time and effort into mingling with women in the hope of eventually getting into a romantic relationship or having sex with them. The term earned some media attention in 2019 with the murder of Bianca Devins. A man killed the 17-year-old Devins and posted photographs of her body online, one of which bore the caption, "sorry fuckers, you're going to have to find somebody else to orbit."


title: Alpha and beta male

text: The term "beta uprising" or "incel rebellion" has been used largely among incels to refer to revenge by members of their community who have been overlooked by women. It is also sometimes used to describe a movement to overthrow what they view as an oppressive, feminist society. A 2018 vehicle-ramming attack in Toronto, Canada, was allegedly perpetrated by a man who had posted on his Facebook page just prior to the attack, "the Incel Rebellion has already begun". Media outlets have used the terms "beta uprising" and "incel rebellion" to refer to acts of violence perpetrated by members of manosphere communities, particularly incels.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: "Sigma male" is used to denote a male who is equally dominant to an alpha male, but exists outside the alpha-beta male hierarchy as a "lone wolf". In the manosphere, it is regarded as the "rarest" kind of male. The term first appeared in a blog post by alt-right provocateur Vox Day. In 2018, the term appeared on YouTube and in 2021 it went viral.


title: Alpha and beta male

text: Despite its alt-right origins, the term sigma male has taken on an ironic and satirical meaning, often mocking the concept of the "manosphere" and the ideas of hustle culture with bizarre and nonsensical actions being considered part of the sigma male mindset or "grindset".


title: Bard College

text: Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark.


title: Bard College

text: Founded in 1860, the institution consists of a liberal arts college and a conservatory, as well as eight graduate programs offering over 20 graduate degrees in the arts and sciences. The college has a network of over 35 affiliated programs, institutes, and centers, spanning twelve cities, five states, seven countries, and four continents.


title: Bard College

text: During much of the nineteenth century, the land now owned by Bard was mainly composed of several country estates. These estates were called Blithewood, Bartlett, Sands, Cruger's Island, and Ward Manor/Almont.


title: Bard College

text: In 1853, John Bard and Margaret Bard purchased a part of the Blithewood estate and renamed it Annandale. John Bard was the grandson of Samuel Bard, a prominent doctor, a founder of Columbia University's medical school, and physician to George Washington. John Bard was also the nephew of the Rev. John McVickar, a professor at Columbia University. The family had strong connections with the Episcopal Church and Columbia.


title: Bard College

text: The following year, in 1854, John and Margaret established a parish school on their estate in order to educate the area's children. A wood-frame cottage, known today as Bard Hall, served as a school on weekdays and a chapel on weekends. In 1857, the Bards expanded the parish by building the Chapel of the Holy Innocents next to Bard Hall. During this time, John Bard remained in close contact with the New York leaders of the Episcopal Church. The Church suggested that he found a theological college.


title: Bard College

text: With the promise of outside financial support, John Bard donated the unfinished Chapel, and the surrounding , to the diocese in November 1858. In March 1860, St. Stephen's College was founded. In 1861, construction began on the first St. Stephen's College building, a stone collegiate gothic dormitory called Aspinwall. During its initial years, the college relied on wealthy benefactors, like trustee Cornelius Vanderbilt, for funding.


title: Bard College

text: The college began taking shape within four decades. In 1866, Ludlow Hall, an administrative building, was erected. Preston Hall was built in 1873 and used as a refectory. A set of four dormitories, collectively known as Stone Row, were completed in 1891. And in 1895, the Greek revival Hoffman Memorial Library was built. The school officially changed its name to Bard College in 1934 in honor of its founder.


title: Bard College

text: In the 20th century, social and cultural changes amongst New York's high society would bring about the demise of the great estates. In 1914, Louis Hamersley purchased the fire-damaged Ward Manor/Almont estate and erected a Tudor style mansion and gatehouse, or what is today known as Ward Manor. Hamersley expanded his estate in 1926 by acquiring the abandoned Cruger's Island estate. That same year, after Hamersley's combined estate was purchased by William Ward, it was donated to charity and served as a retirement home for almost four decades.


title: Bard College

text: By the mid-1900s, Bard's campus significantly expanded. The Blithewood estate was donated to the college in 1951, and in 1963, Bard purchased of the Ward Manor estate, including the main manor house. The rest of the Ward Manor estate is now the Tivoli Bays nature preserve.


title: Bard College

text: In 1919, Fr. Bernard Iddings Bell became Bard's youngest president at the age of 34. His adherence to classical education, decorum, and dress eventually clashed with the school's push towards Deweyism and secularization, and he resigned in 1933.


title: Bard College

text: In 1928, Bard merged with Columbia University, serving as an undergraduate school similar to Barnard College. Under the agreement, Bard remained affiliated with the Episcopal Church and retained control of its finances. The merger raised Bard's prestige; however, it failed to provide financial support to the college during the Great Depression. So dire was Bard's financial situation that in 1932, then-Governor of New York and College trustee Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to the likes of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., George Eastman and Frederick William Vanderbilt requesting donations for the college.


title: Bard College

text: On May 26, 1933, Dr. Donald Tewksbury, a Columbia professor, was appointed dean of the college. Although dean for only four years, Tewksbury had a lasting impact on the school. Tewksbury, an educational philosopher, had extensive ideas regarding higher education. While he was dean, Tewksbury steered the college into a more secular direction and changed its name from St. Stephen's to Bard. He also placed a heavy academic emphasis on the arts, something atypical of colleges at the time, and set the foundations for Bard's Moderation and Senior Project requirement. While Tewksbury never characterized Bard's curriculum as "progressive," the school would later be considered an early adopter of progressive education. In his 1943 study of early progressive colleges, titled "General Education in the Progressive College", Louis T. Benezet used Bard as one of his three case studies.


title: Bard College

text: During the 1940s, Bard provided a haven for intellectual refugees fleeing Europe. These included Hannah Arendt, the political theorist, Stefan Hirsch, the precisionist painter; Felix Hirsch, the political editor of the "Berliner Tageblatt"; the violinist Emil Hauser; the linguist Hans Marchand; the noted psychologist Werner Wolff; and the philosopher Heinrich Blücher.


title: Bard College

text: Arendt is buried at Bard, alongside her husband Heinrich Blücher, as is eminent novelist Philip Roth.


title: Bard College

text: In 1944, as a result of World War II, enrollment significantly dropped putting financial stress on the college. In order to increase enrollment, the college became co-educational, thereby severing all ties with Columbia. The college became an independent, secular, institution in 1944. Thus enrollment more than doubled, from 137 students in 1944, to 293 in 1947. In the 1950s, with the addition of the Blithewood estate and Tewksbury Hall, the college would increase its enrollment by 150 students.


title: Bard College

text: Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's experiences at Bard prompted them to write the 1973 song "My Old School" for their rock group, Steely Dan. Fagen wrote another Steely Dan song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", about novelist, artist and former Bard faculty spouse Rikki Ducornet.


title: Bard College

text: In 2020, Bard College, along with Central European University, became the founding members of the Open Society University Network, a collaborative global education initiative endowed with US$1 billion. As part of this new initiative, the college received a US$100 million gift from the Open Society Foundations which ranks among the largest financial contributions to a U.S. institution in recent history.


title: Bard College

text: In June 2021, Bard College was declared an 'undesirable institution' in Russia, becoming the first international higher education organization to be branded with this designation. Bard president Botstein hypothesize that this tag was due their association with and funding from the Open Society Foundations (also classified 'undesirable' in Russia) and related conspiracy theories about George Soros.


title: Bard College

text: The campus of Bard College is in Annandale-on-Hudson, a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, in the town of Red Hook. It contains more than 70 buildings with a total gross building space of and was listed as a census-designated place in 2020. Campus buildings represent varied architectural styles, but the campus remains heavily influenced by the Collegiate Gothic and Postmodern styles.


title: Bard College

text: Bard's historic buildings are associated with the early development of the college and the history of the Hudson River estates (see Bard College History). During a late twentieth-century building boom, the college embraced a trend of building signature buildings designed by prominent architects like Venturi, Gehry, and Viñoly.


title: Bard College

text: In January 2016, Bard purchased Montgomery Place, a estate adjacent to the Bard campus, with significant historic and cultural assets. The estate consists of a historic mansion, a farm, and some 20 smaller buildings. The college purchased the property from Historic Hudson Valley, the historical preservation organization that had owned Montgomery Place since the late 1980s. The addition of this property brings Bard's total campus size to nearly along the Hudson River in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.


title: Bard College

text: Bard is a college of the liberal arts and sciences. In the undergraduate college, Bard offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. There are 23 academic departments that offer over 40 major programs, as well as 12 interdisciplinary concentrations. The college was the first in the nation to offer a human rights major. In the 2011–2012 academic year, the college held 1,345 classes.


title: Bard College

text: In the three weeks preceding their first semester, first-year students attend the Language and Thinking (L&T) program, an intensive, writing-centered introduction to the liberal arts. The interdisciplinary program, established in 1981, aims to "cultivate habits of thoughtful reading and discussion, clear articulation, accurate self-critique, and productive collaboration." The program covers philosophy, history, science, poetry, fiction, and religion. In 2011, the core readings included works by Hannah Arendt, Franz Kafka, Frans de Waal, Stephen Jay Gould, Clifford Geertz, M. NourbeSe Philip, and Sophocles.


title: Bard College

text: The capstone of the Bard undergraduate experience is the Senior Project, commonly referred to as SPROJ amongst its students. As with moderation, this project takes different forms in different departments. Many students write a paper of around eighty pages, which is then, as with work for moderation, critiqued by a board of three professors. Arts students must organize a series of concerts, recitals, or shows, or produce substantial creative work; math and science students, as well as some social science students, undertake research projects.


title: Bard College

text: In its 2021 edition of college rankings, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked Bard tied for 54th overall, 4th in "Most Innovative Schools", tied at 30th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", and 40th for "Best Value" among liberal arts colleges in the United States.


title: Bard College

text: In September 2011, Travel+Leisure named the college as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States.


title: Bard College

text: Bard has been named a top producer of U.S. Fulbright Scholars. Many Bard alumni have also been named Watson Fellows, Critical Language Scholarship recipients, Davis Projects for Peace Prize winners, Rhodes Scholars, Marshall Scholars, and Peace Corps fellows, among other postgraduate awards.


title: Bard College

text: Bard has access to multiple, distinct endowments. Bard, along with Central European University, is a founding member of the Open Society University Network, endowed with $1 billion. Bard also maintains a separate endowment of approximately $267 million, a large portion of which is exclusively dedicated to its graduate programs in the arts. In July 2020, Bard received a gift of $100 million from the Open Society Foundations, which will dispense $10 million yearly over a period of ten years. In April 2021, Bard received a $500 million endowment challenge grant from philanthropist George Soros. Once matched, on a five-year timeline, Bard will have an endowment of more than $1 billion.


title: Bard College

text: Bard has developed several innovative graduate programs and research institutes, including the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, the Levy Economics Institute which began offering a Masters of Science in Economic Theory and Policy in 2014, the Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, the ICP-Bard Program in Advanced Photographic Studies in Manhattan, the Master of Arts in Teaching Program (MAT), the Bard College Clemente Program, and the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan.


title: Bard College

text: In 1990, Bard College acquired, on permanent loan, art collector Marieluise Hessel's substantial collection of important contemporary artwork. In 2006, Hessel contributed another $8 million (USD) for the construction of a 17,000-square-foot addition to Bard's Center for Curatorial Studies building, in which the collection is exhibited.


title: Bard College

text: The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) provides a liberal arts degree to incarcerated individuals (prison education) in five prisons in New York State, and enrolls nearly 200 students. Since federal funding for prison education programs was eliminated in 1994, BPI is one of only a small number of programs of its kind in the country.


title: Bard College

text: Bard awards the Bard Fiction Prize annually to "a promising emerging writer who is an American citizen aged 39 years or younger at the time of application". The prize is $30,000 and an appointment as writer-in-residence at the college.


title: Bard College

text: The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities is located at Bard College. The center hosts an annual public conference, offers courses, runs various related academic programs, and houses research fellows, and is directed by Dr. Roger Berkowitz, a legal scholar and an associate professor of politics, philosophy, and human rights.


title: Bard College

text: In February 2009, Bard announced the first dual degree program between a Palestinian university and an American institution of higher education. The college entered into a collaboration with Al-Quds University involving an honors college, a master's program in teaching and a model high school.


title: Bard College

text: In accordance with AlQuds-Bard requirements, students are not allowed to decide their major during the first year of their studies; instead, as a liberal arts college, students are advised to diverge in different classes that would allow them to decide what program they would like to take interest in as in the following year. Students are encouraged to look upon different classes to help them decide the subject they would mostly enjoy studying. Bard gives students the opportunity to dissect different programs before committing to a specific major. As a policy, throughout a student's undergraduate years, they must distribute their credits among different courses so that they can liberally experience the different courses Bard has to offer.


title: Bard College

text: In June 2011, Bard officially acquired the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in November 2011, Bard took ownership of the European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin, Germany, to become Bard College Berlin.


title: Bard College

text: In 2013, Bard entered into a comprehensive agreement with Soochow University in Suzhou, China, that will include a joint program between the Soochow University School of Music and the Bard College Conservatory of Music, exploration leading to the establishment of The Bard College Liberal Arts Academy at Soochow University, and student exchange.


title: Bard College

text: In 2020, Bard announced that through the new Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Advanced Achievement Scholars program the college will offer admission to high school juniors within 120 miles from the college based on an essay process based on the popular Bard Entrance Exam, first launched in 2013.


title: Bard College

text: Over 120 student clubs are financed through Bard's Convocation Fund, which is distributed once a semester by an elected student body and ratified during a public forum.


title: Bard College

text: Bard College has one print newspaper, the "Bard Free Press," which was awarded a Best in Show title by the Associated Collegiate Press in 2013. In 2003, the "Bard Free Press" won Best Campus Publication in "SPIN Magazines "first annual Campus Awards. Student-run literary magazines include the semiannual "Lux, The Moderator," and "Sui Generis", a journal of translations and of original poetry in languages other than English. "The Draft", a human rights journal, the "Bard Journal of the Social Sciences," "Bard Science Journal", and "Qualia", a philosophy journal, are also student-published. "Bard Papers" is a privately funded literary magazine operated jointly between faculty and students.


title: Bard College

text: Other prominent student groups include: the International Students Organization (ISO), Afropulse, Latin American Student Organization (LASO), Caribbean Student Association (CSA), Asian Student Organization (ASO), Bard Musical Theatre Company (BMTC), Black Student Organization (BSO), Anti-Capitalism Feminist Coalition, Body Image Discussion Group, Self-Injury Support and Discussion, Bard Film Committee, Queer Student Association, Trans Life Collective, The Scale Project, Student Labor Dialogue, Bard Debate Union, Bard Model UN, Surrealist Training Circus, Bard Bike Co-Op, Bard Bars, Bard POC Theater Ensemble, and college radio station WXBC. WXBC was founded in 1947. In 2006, WXBC was nominated for "Station of the Year" and "Biggest Improvement" in the CMJ College Radio Awards.


title: Bard College

text: Bard has a strong independent music scene considering its isolation and size. The college's Old Gym was once a popular location for concerts and parties in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. In 2004, the Old Gym was shut down and in spring 2006 transformed into a student-run theater by students Brel Froebe, Julie Rossman, and Kell Condon. Many activities that once took place there now occur in the smaller SMOG building. SMOG is now primarily used as a music venue featuring student-run bands. Student-run theater is also popular: dozens of student directed and written productions are put on each semester and a 24 Hour Theater Festival is held at least once a year.