Inequality in education and its effects on economic growth in Saudi Arabia

This thesis investigates the direct and indirect effects of gender inequality in education on economic growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This issue has much policy relevance because it might affect the effectiveness of the government's Vision 2030 to diversify the economy. Furthermore, while important research has been conducted on the impact of gender inequality in education and employment on economic growth, no such study exists for the Saudi Arabian context. Following Klasen (2002) and Klasen and Lamanna (2009), this study employs a set of equations, using OLS, to measure these direct and indirect impacts over the period of 1971-2017. The findings show that while gender inequality in education has been improving overtime, its impact on economic growth has been negligible. This is perhaps due to regulatory issues related to the labour market and university courses offered to females, as well as social and cultural issues.