I dont totally agree with your assumption.

First of all the wealth of Dubai is NOT concentrated in Dubai. What you are seeing, hearing, thinking, reading about Dubai is the real estate boom happening in that tiny little place.

Dubai has a very vast investment portfolio expanding in the four corners of the world from the African continent to Europe from the Indian Subcontinents to South East Asia and both the Northern and Southern America. Dubai through its investment corporations like Dubai World who holds probably the tag of the bigges port operator in the world spanding the globe along with Dubai Holdings with its numerous investments and stock ownerships in vast numbers of blue chips companies (aviations, telocoms, etc) has probably have Dubai wealth invested more outside the country than what Dubai has within.

For the interest of verybody here, Dubai compared to Abu Dhabi and others like Qatar and Oman HAS COMPARATIVELY NO OIL !!! Refineries - yes ! Oil-fields - NO.

So where Dubai will get its income while bulk of the oil reserve amounting to about 95% of the UAE is in Abu dhabi?

Simple, the then Crown Prince of Dubai and now Ruler of Dubai has liberalized th Real Estate law of Dubai which started the boom in the UAE and now being copied by th rest of the Emirates and forwarded the Tourism Sector by easing up restrictions and boundaries of being a muslim country for the west.

He succeeded and all the profits generated by his economic diversification are now being invested more outside rather than inside the countries. So where is the wealth really? It’s outside rather than inside.

And who are the one investing inside the countries ? Well they are the FOREIGN investors who are enjoying the economic freedom and boom created by the present ruler.

It is therefore safe to say that it’s the foreign investments that brings wealth to this tiny little place and the HUGE PROFITS taken by Dubai out of that are the investments they are chanelling OUTSIDE this little country.