Osama Hamed

Osama Hamed, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Armitage Hall, Room 423
311 North Fifth Street
Camden, NJ 08102, USA
Phone: (856) 225-6027
Email: hamed@camden.rutgers.edu

Education

PhD in Economics, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
MA in History, American University of Beirut
BA in Philosophy and History, American University of Beirut

Classes Taught

  • 50:220:102: Principles of Microeconomics
  • 50:220:103: Principles of Macroeconomics
  • 50:220:204: Intermediate Macroeconomics
  • 50:220:210: History of Economic Thought
  • 50:220:301: Money and Banking
  • 50:220:329: Economics of International Finance
  • 50:220:331: International Economics
  • 50:220:363: Economics of Investment

Current Research

  1. “Money supply estimation, foreign exchange risk, and other challenges experienced by countries without national currencies”. The paper uses Baumol inventory approach to demand for cash to estimate currency in circulation, and hence money supply, for countries that do not have national currencies, whose number have been increasing in recent years.  It also investigates possible foreign exchange risk mitigation strategies if countries without national currencies have multiple currencies in circulation. The paper uses data from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where three currencies are currently in circulation.  It was commissioned and will be published by Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute.
  2. “Economic efficiency and economic equality under economic systems with public ownership of the means of production”.  The research revisits some of the issues raised in the 1930s and 1940s debate between market socialists (such as Abba Lerner and Oscar Lange) and free enterprise economists (including Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman).  The project explores a decentralized ownership structure for the means of production and labor allocation based on non-pecuniary attributes of jobs as possible mechanisms to address inefficiency issues.  It investigates the feasibility of reducing wage differentials while maintaining competitiveness in the labor markets if non-pecuniary attributes play a key role in labor allocation. It examines impact of decentralizing the ownership of the means of production on economic efficiency by exploring the feasibility of having a competitive capital market, profitability based public enterprise evaluation, and broad public involvement in monitoring the performance of public enterprises under a decentralized ownership structure.  

Publications

  • “The Role of Moneychangers in the Palestinian Financial System”. 2013. Commissioned by the Palestinian Monetary Authority. In Arabic. [non refereed]
  • “The De-Developmentof the Palestinian Economy”, The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2008. [refereed]
  • “The Role of the Palestinian Financial Sector Following a Permanent Settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”, in Economic Policy and Institutional Reform for a Viable Palestinian State, David Cobham and Noman Kanafani, eds, Routledge, 2004. [refereed]
  • “A Framework for Palestinian Socio-Economic Development under Current Conditions”, 2004, Commissioned by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). [non refereed]
  • “Palestinian Permanent Monetary Arrangements: A Position Paper”, 2000. Commissioned by Adam Smith Institute, London.” [non refereed]
  • “Shocks and Stabilization”, in Development under Adversity,  Ishac Diwan and Radwan Shaban, eds.,  The World Bank, 1999. [refereed]
  • “Current Monetary Arrangements between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Possible Alternatives”, 1999. Commissioned by the European Commission. [non refereed]
  • “Financial Intermediation”, in Development under Adversity, Ishac Diwan and Radwan Shaban, eds., The World Bank, 1999. [refereed]
  • “Private Investment”, in Development under Adversity, Ishac Diwan and Radwan Shaban, eds., The World Bank, 1999. [refereed]
  • “Informal Finance and Lending NGOs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip”, Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, 1998. [non refreed]
  • “Foreign Labor, Currency Substitution and Economic Stability in Gulf Countries”, Arab Economic Journal, Fall, 1997. [refereed]
  • “The Work Place as a Source of Pension and Health Insurance Benefits in the West Bank and Gaza Strip”, Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, 1997. [refereed]
  • “The Palestinian Banking System, Reality and Potential”, Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, 1996. [refereed]
  • “The Palestinian Banking Sector: Statistical Review”, Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, 1995. [refereed]
  • “Banking Regulation and Supervision in the West Bank and Gaza Strip”. (with Radwan Shaban).  Commissioned by the Palestinian Monetary Authority and used as a basis for developing the regulatory framework of the Palestinian banking system, 1995.  [non refereed]
  • “One-Sided Customs and Monetary Union: the Case of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Israeli Occupation”(with Radwan Shaban), in The Economics of Middle East Peace, Stanley Fischer, Dani Rodrik & Elias Tuma, eds., MIT Press, 1993. [refereed]
  • “Economic Policy Making in a One Commodity Producer: Adjustment to Oil Price Fluctuations in Kuwait,” JIME Review, the Japanese Institute for Middle Eastern Economies, Winter, 1990. [refereed]

Scientific/Professional Presentations

  • “The Role of the Palestinian Financial Sector following a Permanent Settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”.  To be presented at a workshop on Economic Policy and Institutional Reform for a Viable Palestinian State, Economics Department, St. Andrews University, Scotland, August 29-30, 2003.
  • “Financial Intermediation and Economic Growth in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the Paris Economic Protocol.” Presented at a conference on the Palestinian Economy after the Paris Protocol, Economics Department, Ben Gurion University, Israel, June 24-25, 1998.
  • “Involuntary Customs and Monetary Union: the Case of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Israeli Occupation”.  Presented (with Radwan Shaban) at a conference on the Economics of Middle East Peace, Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East of the J.F. Kennedy School, Harvard University, November 14-16, 1991.