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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which information technology (IT) and human capital accumulation have contributed to the recent rapid economic growth of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach -Well-established prior theories suggest that both factors are key growth ingredients. Results from cointegration tests confirm these prior theories and support a strong long-run (equilibrium) relationship linking real economic growth in the UAE with both IT (alternatively defined) and human capital. However, additional tests based on the Gonzalo and Granger technique reveal that human capital plays a particularly significant role in the growth process.Findings -These results lend support to the notion that good education is a prerequisite before new technologies can produce economic benefits. In contrast with robust long-run effects, results from error-correction models indicate that neither IT nor human capital has any significant short-run effect on real growth. Originality/value -The paper is of value by demonstrating that efforts to invigorate the education system and the technological infrastructure in the UAE must persist over a long period of time, before they can produce their expected economic benefits.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 34.2pt 0pt 1in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Natural gas has assumed increasing importance in the global energy market. This study evaluates the forecasting performance of futures prices of natural gas in the large market of the U.S. at various time horizons. The results indicate that futures prices are unbiased predictors at the 1-, 6-, and 12- month horizons, but not at the 3- and 9- month horizons. The results further suggest that futures prices of natural gas, although biased at some intervals, significantly outperform na&iuml;ve forecasts in predicting future movements of spot prices. In addition, the information content of the 1-month ahead futures price proves especially useful as a forecasting device. Policy implications are also discussed.<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></p>

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