A new paper published, motivated by a STAT TC project in Oman (March 2021)

It is a widely established economic fundamental that the cost of production inputs is directly linked to the performance and competitiveness of a business. As a consequence, any associated stakeholder may be worried that an increase in input prices may result
in a loss of competitiveness of the economic entity in question. This is as true for the business owner as it is for any other party which has an invested interest in the economic success of the said venture, and the argument is particularly salient when cost competitiveness is one of the main market propositions of the entity of concern.

A new paper, "Switching it up: The effect of energy price reforms in Oman ", published in World Development, by UNIDO PRS staff members, consultants, and coauthors, link firm-level input price dynamics to changes in the institutional level and provides an extensive empirical account of an energy policy intervention by the Omani
government. 

The study is backed by data collected through the Omani Annual Industrial Survey
(AIS) which provides us with panel data of establishments in the manufacturing sector and licensed with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Sultanate of Oman. The AIS data
provides information of up to roughly 3,600 manufacturing establishments surveyed between the years 2012 and 2017 and follows the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) at the IV-digit level. The survey was designed and put in place through the UNIDO TC project "Enhancement of the institutional capacity of the Government of Oman for industrial development through the improvement of the statistical infrastructure".