I teach a methods seminar, and one of my students wants to do a comparative study of post-Soviet Russia and Saudi Arabia, on the basis that Saudi Arabia is a "closed economy" (used to compare with post-Soviet privatization of Russia's oil industry). I know the Saudi oil sector is government controlled, but I don't think I'd call the country a "command economy" (in the sense of communist economics). Before I challenge my student, I want to be sure. Any experts on Saudi Arabia's economy want to weigh in?
Hi, However your question is pre-directed to experts on Saudi Arabia's economy, I just would like to say I totally agree with you about the nature and classification of Saudi economy for two reasons: 1- It is true that oil sector is totally controlled by government but not in the past soviet way, and because of the foreign share in it which was more than 50%. 2-The private sector in Saudi Arabia operates substantial share of whole economy in the local level and according to the relations with foreign sector the Saudi economy is one of the most opened economy in the middle east. Therefor is is difficult to classify it as closed economy.
Thank you. That was my thought as well. It seems like a not good comparison, if my student is looking for a "similar" command economy. I thought Saudi Arabia's private economy was about half of GDP? I certainly never though of SA as a "command economy" until this student turned in the paper.
I'm less concerned with the name, and more concerned that SA and Russia are not good cases for a MSDO comparative research design.
Well, Miguel. The researcher is you, so, if you think that they are not good cases, we have nothing to say. BTW, what is MSDO, excuse me my ignorance?
Just in case it helps. I did other type of comparisons in medicine and social science. I am rather suspicious of those beautiful comparisons with 'perfect cases' in any field. Just by logic...if two cases (countries, animals) are extremely similar, almost identical, will there be any interesting or eye-opening comparison worth being reported?
Comparison implies similarities and differences; I do not think that the two countries you mention are 'bad' or 'wrong' cases for comparison. They might render more interesting insights, even those you cannot suspect as we discuss here in RG
Actually, the researcher is one of my students (this is a thesis proposal).
But MSDO stands for "most similar, different outcomes" research design (the opposite is MDSO or "most different, similar outcome"). The idea is not to find "perfect" similar cases (no such things exist, as you know). But in the logic of comparative analysis, the idea is to find cases that are similar enough so that their similarities are controlled for (logically, two similar things should behave similarly, so any difference in the dependent variable can't be due to their similarities, but to whatever other factors remain different about them). For example, if two authoritarian regimes hold elections, and one allows the opposition to win, then there must be some other difference(s) between the two regimes that help explain the outcome.
My student is arguing that both Saudi Arabia and USSR (which have many other differences: culture, history, religion, etc.) are "similar" because they are both "command economies" doesn't seem to work.
The way comparative analysis works depends entirely on the dependent variable. For MSDO designs, the two cases must have the different out comes in the dependent variable. In other words, I would look at why to similar cases but only one did X. For MDSO designs, both cases have similar outcomes. So why did two different cases both do X. The basic logic of comparative analysis uses these combinations to compare.
Both cases my student had outlined have different outcomes. So her comparison only works (for analysis) if they are similar. But in sure they're not.
Comparative analysis like this has a long tradition in social science. For example Skocpol's States and Social Revolution (which uses both MSDO and MDSO combinations). I hope I'm explaining it clearly. But these kind of comparative research designs are the most basic in the comparativist's toolkit.
Jae Park: Here is a good overview of how MSDO and MDSO research designs work, from the classic Przeworski and Teune (1970), The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. It's what I generally assign to my undergraduate methods classes (although this semester I've instead assigned Lange's Comparative-Historical Methods), which relies less on formal theory.
http://online.sfsu.edu/sguo/Renmin/June1_logic/The%20Logic%202_Prezworski.pdf
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