LABOUR MIGRATION TO THE MIDDLE EAST 21 (representing 24 per cent of the GNP) to US$ 11 billion in 1980 and to about US$ 40 billion in 1988. Yemen's foreign debts increased four hundred fold in those ten years. The already existing income gap between the Arabian OPEC-countrie$ and the other Arabian countries increased fivefold. As we do not want to enter into the discussion about the exact circumstances resulting in the sudden increase of the oil price in the mid-1970s, we limit ourselves to pointing out that this increase came as a blessing in disguise for American industries which were at that time losing international competitiveness. The fast rising oil price dealt a severe blow to the European and Japanese economies, whereas, in contrast, the United States can rely on its own oil production. The gigantic amount of foreign currency was primarily used to invest in infrastructural projects, industrial development, the growth of the bureaucratic apparatus and the building up of the social security system. What is important to keep in mind is the basic characteristic of the politico-economic systems in these oil producing countries. Through the ages the control over the irrigation works resulted in despotic regimes which were effective in systematizing the tax system to maintain the hydraulic system and to form a military defense system. Already in an early stage, this led to the existence of a rent economy in which the income of the ruling class was a function of rent titles. These titles (which enabled one to claim a part of the agricultural output) could be bought and sold and as such the system showed capitalist tendencies. The process of selling and buying rent titles made extensive use of middlemen in order for anonymity to be guaranteed. This was important in countries where the regimes had a rather fickle character. In a country which is characterized by rent capitalism there is in general no urge to reinvest profits, the only accumulation which takes place is the accumulation of rent. There is a major contrast with the development of capitalism in Western Europe where the capitalist bourgeoisie pressed for political reforms in order to remove the barriers to re-investment. As such feudal elements tended to disappear, while in a country like Saudi Arabia only in 1962 was slavery officially abolished. In addition rent capitalism tends to show much corruption, patronage, intrigues and a general lack of legal protection. It is important to realize that basically the new oil wealth in the Middle East is a variant of the former rent capitalist system. The oil revenues also are a form of rent, a groundrent that ensures an income which is not the result of a productive activity in the sense of changing a natural product into a consumption good. This rent element is plainly illustrated by the fact that if you do not have oil it is impossible to produce it through capitalist investment. It is not only the major oil producing countries which have rent capitalist features within their economies. A minor oil producer like Egypt also has many rent