Iranian Journal of Economic Research

Abstract This article exploits the conventional micro and macroeconomics relations such as production functions, costs and so on, in order to simulate Iran's economy in the form of a computable general equilibrium model. We use the Mixed Complementarity Problems (MCP) technique along with the GAMS software & its modeling process.    The purpose of this study is to investigate the consequences of both decreasing the agricultural sector (agricultural activities) subsidy, and the changes of the labour tax on the sectoral production and revenue of urban and rural households. This purpose we use the latest social accounting matrix (1375).    The results reveal that the reduction of agricultural sector subsidy will have a negative impact on the production of all other sectors. However, for agriculture sector the percentage of this negative impact is more significant than other sectors. Also its negative impact on the urban and rural revenue is considerable. The same situation is encountered for the changes in the labour tax. A rise of the laboure tax has negative impact on all other sectors but its reduction does not have any considerable positive impact on them.

Abstract This paper attempt to presents the pattern of distribution poverty among Iranian households calculated by the two criteria, absolute poverty and relative poverty considering socio-economic characteristics (e.g. urban or rural), the household head's educational level, age, occupation, and economic activity, as well as the location of the household's residence. The research results indicate that during the period in review the rural population poverty share to the country's total poverty has exceeded that of the urban peoples, the former following a downward trend and the latter has an upward trend. The households whose head is in the age group above 55 are poorer than those in the other age groups, and the households whose head is engaged in the agricultural activities or in unskilled jobs are poorer than those in the other occupations.    The results also indicate that the highest rate relates to the households whose head is a family worker or a self-employed worker.

Abstract In this paper we examine the effects of nominal variables on the GDP gap in Iran. The potential GDP is obtained by Prescott filtering method.    A VAR model is set up & estimated for GDP gap, inflation, market exchange rate growth, and liquidity growth. The results show that nominal variable shocks influence the GDP gap in Iran in the same direction. Stability of these shocks indicates their long-run effect on the system. Thus, for economic growth, the economic policy must concentrate on production increases, which would affect the long run production.  

Abstract In this paper, we use data envelopment analysis (DEA), a specific non-parametric method, to obtain the efficiency of sugar produces. The main advantage of these non-parametric method, comparing parametric one, is that there is no necessity to specify a production function, and also, they provide some ways to calculate the efficiency of multi-product firms.     In this study, we measure the efficiency of 33 sugar factories of Iran in 1999. For this purpose, technical and scale efficiency of the sugar factories are calculated. The result shows the average technical efficiency is 69 percent. In addition, the technical efficiency of 7 factories including Neishabour, Piranshahr, Joveen, Isfahan, Eghlid, Miyandoab and Ghazvin is 100% relatively.    Also, the results of the scale efficiency show that 14 factories satisfy the efficient boundary condition and the average scale efficiency of the factories is about 75 percent. In addition, the rank of the efficient factories is determined, using different ranking methods. 

Abstract Financial repression, according to many scholars, is a drag on economic growth and development. To identify factors influencing financial repression we analyzed experts opinion using Delphi Method. We used DEMATEL technique and Graph theory to sequence their importance and feedbacks. The result shows that dependence on oil export revenue is the most important factor causing financial repression and it has increased economic rent and corruption, and it is self-perpetuating. Our findings are consistant with structuralists and post Keynesian views. Reliability of model used is consistant with stylized facts and expert opinion. Besides DEMATEL is a very reliable mathematical model for this types of  study.

Abstract Energy consumption & economic activities in such a way that are highly correlated. Gas and electercity account for more than 98 percent of total energy consumption in Iran. In this paper an attempt is made to study the consumptions pattern of energy carriers in Iran, using Vector-Auto Regression and Granger Causality Test. The results indicate that price variable is not important determinant of the consumption pattern of energy carriers in the country. However, there are some tendeney to change the energy consumption on the long – run.

Abstract The link between public and private investment and their effects on each other investigated by many economists in the past. In this study, we investigate the effects of some economic variables on private investment. These variables are different types of government expenses (current and development fund).    The results suggest that budget deficit leads to expansion of private investment and there is a time-lag for this effect. We use ARDL Technique and the period of study is 1963-2001

Abstract Productivity of the factors of production is one of the important indices to measure the advantages of industries in the internal and external levels of any country. The productivity growth of the production factors decreases the production costs and increases the competitive power of the producer in the market. Thus, the entrepreneurs prefer to invest on the industries which enjoy both high value added and high productivity.    This paper calculates and compares the total, average and marginal productivity of different small and large scale industries of Iran during 1366-1380. The industries are divided into nine industrial groups according to international classification I.S.I.C, Rev.2. The Cobb-Douglas production function is used for studying and calculating the total and marginal productivity. The average ratio of value added to factors of labour and capital during the period of study is used for calculating the average productivity.     The paper concludes that the total, average and marginal productivity of the total small scale industries is less than the large ones. But the productivity of some groups of small scale industries is more than large ones.