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Iran's subjection to Russo-British influence has received the bulk of attention of modern scholarship dealing with the country's interaction with the outside world in the nineteenth century. This article, while not denying the central role played by these two powers in Iran's domestic affairs at the time, draws attention to a third power with long-standing claims to influence in the country by way of trade policies—France. From the fall of Napoleon in 1815 until the French Revolution of 1848, the French monarchy was especially keen to encourage commerce with Iran, less as a source of increased wealth than to restore and expand French prestige and political influence. This strategy became more significant, when the British and Russian superpowers opposed an active French presence in Iran and prevented France from asserting influence in the country. To contain those powers, France pursued its plan of reaching a trade treaty with Iran as a means of obtaining commercial concessions and privileges as well as to secure its permanent presence in the country. France also aimed to connect Iran to its network of regional trade extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the relationship between state development policies and planning Tehran's urban development from 1945 until the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It shows how the geopolitical context of the Cold War, and the political agendas of multilateral and bilateral development agencies (i.e. the World Bank and the Ford Foundation), together with the specific circumstances of the national modernization of Iran, were decisive in shaping the Iranian planning administration and the emergence of a comprehensive master planning approach. Moreover, this study demonstrates the critical role of the Iranian technocratic elite and professional middle class in establishing planning institutions and advocating for a vision of progress and development. The focus here is on the formation of the 'Plan Organization' as the first modern planning institution in Iran, and the ways in which this institution played a key role in shaping Iranian expert culture and urban planning practices. By examining the links between national development policies and urban planning, this paper presents how comprehensive master planning emerged as the preferred model for the planning and development of Iranian cities. The focus here is on the design and implementation of Tehran's 1968 Comprehensive Master Plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to understand the shift in the nuclear policy of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). As a military organization considered to be the steward of the nuclear programme, the Revolutionary Guards turned into spoilers on the few occasions when the pragmatists in Iran tried to negotiate a deal with the international community. In a surprising shift, the Guards’ nuclear policy changed and supported nuclear negotiations and the nuclear agreement. It is assumed that the IRGC is more interested in its economic ventures than in promoting the nuclear project. To test the hypothesis, the present study is designed to provide a rigorous empirical examination of the economic impact of the sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aimed to develop a multi-sector Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (Large DSGE) model for Iran's economy. In this model, economy was divided into three sectors: Agriculture, non-agriculture, and oil. Imports and exports were also included in the model. In order to adapt the model with Iran's economic conditions, price stickiness in agriculture and non-agriculture were included. Then, the impact of rising oil prices on agricultural sector was examined. To calculate the required coefficients, 1971-2012 data was gathered and Bayesian method was used. The results showed the negative impacts of rising oil prices on agriculture as well as the negative effects of Dutch Disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Numerous models are proposed to model international trade and promote it. Vanek, instead of designing a trade pattern based on the production, introduced a pattern based on the factor content of trade. In the present study, apart from the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) theorem, we attempt to determine the factor content of Iran's trade without factor price equalization by using internal input-output tables. Net trading is positive only for 7 sectors of Iran's economy, including oil and gas. It is negative for 91 percent of sectors that accounts for 78 percent of the economy. Moreover, Iran's factor content of trade is positive for 50 percent of industries, negative for 48%, and it is zero for two ones. In general, the factor content of trade for raw and mineral materials, services, electricity, gas and water infrastructure sectors are positive. In contrast, the factor content of trade is negative for activities like manufacturing of machinery and equipment and in general for sections that require intermediate investment and high-tech goods. Sign and rank tests are employed to assess the validity of HOV theorem. The sign test was found to be satisfied for 67% of cases. Rank test showed satisfaction in about 47% of the cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of local geographical texts appeared throughout Iran in the 1870s and 1880s in the context of an attempt by the Qājār dynasty to collect information on its imperial possessions. These texts combine the instrumental approach of compiling knowledge for the court with literary traditions in local historiography. This article explores these local geographical writings through theories on identity and space, arguing that these texts reflect the shifting spatial imagination of Persianate elites in the context of rapid social and economic change. These texts are an alternate entry point for viewing the politics of identity in Qājār Iran, challenging the teleological approach to the emergence of nationalism in secondary literature. Taking the close relationship between territory and community as a starting point, this article argues that expressions of regional socio-economic unities, which are a key feature of the geographical writings of Iranian elites, reflect the consolidation of regional identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of quality of life has found a growing place in the field of urban and regional studies in recent decades. Although many studies have tried to investigate the subjective and objective aspects of quality of life especially in the urban and rural contexts, a few studies focused on regional levels. Therefore there is a necessity for these kinds of researches to assess the quality of life conditions in the specific territory. The main objective of this article is to investigate spatial patterns of the regional quality of life (RQoL) in Iran using objective indicators, over the period of 15 years. In this way, the changing process of objective quality of life will be investigated. Using descriptive-analytics and comparative method of research, five factors including economic-cultural, political-institutional, socio-geographic, health and infrastructure were extracted and analyzed using principle component analysis and composite index. The temporal analysis shows that from 1996 to 2011, RQoL in Iran has significantly increased in all regions; and economic factor considered as a main reason for this positive change; the results show that Tehran has the high quality of life conditions amongst the regions. Isfahan and Khuzestan are in a very good state. Also, the QoL in the western regions increased significantly faster than eastern regions. Sixty-five percent of regions have improved in quality of life with a moderate fluctuation rate. Although, the level of regional homogeneity has gradually increased over the course of 15 years, but RQoL does not show a specific central or scattered pattern, demonstrating a random scattering in Iran territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the impact of economic sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear weapons program as of December 2015. The U.S. has reportedly been using economic sanctions in dealing with Iran since its embassy in Tehran was siezed in the late 1970s which include restricting Iran's access to the international financial system. The political, economic, and social conditions in Iran is discussed as well as the role of sanctions in shaping Iran's decision-making. Also explored are the effectiveness of the sanctions on Iran, its 2015 nuclear deal with the U.S., and the factors that contribute to the impact of sanctions on Iran.

The article presents the text of a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama on the Iran nuclear deal delivered in Washington, D.C. on August 5, 2015. Topics of the speech include former U.S. President John F. Kennedy's commitment to practical and attainable peace amid calls for war during the height of the Cold War, his opposition on the former administration's decision to go to war in Iraq and criticisms over the possible failure of the nuclear deal with Iran.

The article informs that Iran despite having the world's largest natural gas reservoir, the country's economy is suffering due to inflation, unpredictable fall in oil prices and suggest to focus on its social, economical and political conditions for building a better future.

This article revisits the life and times of Indian migrant workers in Persia/Iran during the first half of the twentieth century, and discusses their contributions to the founding, development and eventual consolidation of the Persian/Iranian oil industry. A number of factors that shaped this experience are investigated. They include the geographic and ethno-religious origins of Indian labourers; the policies adopted by the oil company (APOC), labour agencies and the Government of India to recruit workers and regulate their working conditions and terms of contract; and the lived experience of the workers once they were hired and began working in the Persian/Iranian oil industry.Across nearly half a century, Indian workers in the Persian/Iranian oil industry faced a variety of labour experiences ranging from coerced recruitment as indentured workers during wartime, to wage labour with a negotiated contract and protection under colonial labour laws. I will discuss how these workers responded to the various recruitment policies, the demanding working conditions and labour discipline imposed on them, their remuneration and wage-structures, and their living conditions and housing situation.Records of the lengthy presence of Indian workers in the oil industry provide us with numerous stories of contestation, resistance and negotiations for better working and living conditions. Ultimately, the story of Indian migrant workers is also a story of accommodating within an emerging multinational corporation. I situate the history of migrant labour agencies within the framework of colonial labour practices. By examining the workers’ encounter with multiple class, ethnic and territorial identities, I survey the changing relations of both solidarity and discord between Indian migrant workers and indigenous Iranian workers.2 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Underground economy, is all countries economy reality and forms a percent of each country`s economy and is the cause of many social and economic disorders that presents its existence in community with an unseen hand and is the cause of monetary and financial problems emergence and obscures economic data and makes inappropriate performance of economic policy therefore, due to the sensitivity of this phenomenon, this research measure the volume of smuggled goods during the years of (1974-2011) based on Lisrel software. In this study, for determining the size of the underground economy, firstly, its index has been determined by using MIMIC4 method in a ranked series of numbers and then for the sake of comparing different years, calibration and the previous studies were used to estimate the volume of relative and absolute underground economy. Based on mimic method, the average size of the underground economy during (1974-2011), was about 21% of official GDP. The results of this study show that the openness of the economy, inflation, education and the size of the government are considered main causes of the underground economy in Iran. The average size of the underground economy in past studies, was about 19% of GDP but in this study, it`s two percent higher than the average of the whole period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]