The oil boom prompted a massive inflow of capital into the Arab region. But whilst the investment this facilitated clearly had benefits for the region, the developmental achievements of the boom decade are demonstrably unable to match the magnitude of the resources directed to development and the reasonable expectations invested in it. Professor Yusif Sayigh draws a powerful and painful lesson from this experience applicable to other areas: you cannot buy development; it must be soundly oriented and sought with resolve by society's leaderships and a people enjoying a large measure of freedom and political participation.