From Tomas Pueyo:
The success of Dubai is not based on oil. Its current trajectory is based on a particular strategy that started long before the discovery of natural resources.
Dubai was historically very poor and of no importance. The equivalent of a SEZ was created in 1901 to attract merchants, and it is this institutional strategy that allowed the city to develop into a hub. The quality of its institutions (security, tolerance, low taxes and regulation, etc.) allowed it to attract merchants and then exploit network effects. Population quadrupled during the first half of the 20th century, whereas oil was only discovered during the 1960s.
Oil helped the city develop its vision and was an enormous economic boon, representing around 40% of GDP on average during the 1970s and 1980s. Since the end of the 1990s, the share of oil in GDP has dwindled and represents less than 1% of the city’s GDP today.