They have raised prices on transportation fuel; three have increased prices on electricity and water in citizens’ homes; and electricity and water subsidies for businesses have been reduced in five of the six monarchies, the brief noted. Across the Gulf, Iran has taken similar steps.

“Energy Subsidy Reform in the Persian Gulf: The End of the Big Oil Giveaway” was co-authored by Jim Krane, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute, and Shih Yu “Elsie” Hung, a research associate in the institute’s Center for Energy Studies. The paper presents a snapshot of the progress of subsidy reform in the Gulf, documenting policy changes in all six monarchies and briefly examining the role of energy and the state.

The authors said energy subsidies have long outlived their usefulness. Energy products such as electricity and gasoline have been distributed domestically at low prices that, in some cases, have been fixed since the era of oil nationalization in the 1970s. “Over time, government provision of cheap energy had the unintended consequence of encouraging high per-capita demand,” the authors wrote.

Policymakers hope higher energy prices can produce a number of helpful effects, the authors said. These effects include relieving pressure on government budgets at a time when oil and gas revenues are low; reducing domestic demand for oil and gas that can otherwise be exported; increasing the relative attractions of non-carbon sources of energy; and encouraging conservation and efficiency, which helps reduce carbon emissions and the energy intensity of the gross domestic product while increasing overall productivity.

Despite the reform pace, the still-cautious nature of these reforms demonstrates that the monarchies remain deferential to the wishes of their citizens, who have been shielded from the brunt of the reform, the authors said.