Journal of Economic Research
Year:2012 | Volume:47 | Issue:2 (99)|Papers Count:12

The efficiency of the institutions and the level of their effectiveness in trading among the countries are pretty new subjects that have been considered in recent studies. Many researchers believe that the corruption would cause a reduction in trading among the countries. On the other hand some others assume corruption can help to facilitate the transactions process. The main purpose of this paper is to study the effect of corruption on bilateral trade of selected countries in the Middle East between 2002 and 2008 by using gravity model and Panel Data method. We have used Corruption Perception Index in addition to Control of Corruption index as two proxies for studying the effects of corruption on the trade. Based on our results, as one percent reduction in Corruption Perceptions Index would lead to 3.53 percent increase in export in the exporting country. Furthermore one percent reduction of that in a country which imports the goods would induce 2.27 percent increase in trade.

In this article, We have used 36 electricity distribution companies of Iran and by using input-oriented DEA, We analysis the companies technical efficiency with respect to group frontier and metafrontier following restructuring, then we investigate the factors affecting efficiency. The companies decomposed to two groups in terms of High and Low circuit density. For discussing the impact of structural and environmental variables, We used two-stage approach. The results show that Khorasan company in first group have had maximum efficiency with respect to metafrontier. West Tehran and Isfahan city distribution companies in second group have had maximum efficiency scores and Shiraz city have had minimum efficiency score with respect to metafrontier. Privatization have had positive impact and network load factor have had negative and significant impact on technical efficiency with respect to group frontier and metafrontier. In contrast, companies with higher circuit density have had higher technical and scale efficiency.

This study has investigated the long-run and short-run effects of relative productivity on real exchange rate using annual time series data of Iran and its major trade partners over the period 1980-2005. To analyze such effect which refers to the Balassa-Samuelson effect, this research uses Auto-Regressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) method, to deal with dynamics of the relationship between productivity and real effective exchange rate.The empirical results indicate a positive and significant effect of relative productivity to the tradable sector on the real effective exchange rate, whereas this effect is significantly negative with respect to the non-tradable sector in Iran. These findings are consistent with the Balassa-Samuelson effect.

In this Article, optimal VAT rates have been calculated for the three different levels of consumption tax revenue needed by the government. Using the data of 10 income groups of the Iranian rural and urban households in the period (1378-1386) and applying Panel Data approach, the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) were estimated to derive the price and income elasticities. Then, the optimal VAT rates were derived using Diamond & Mirrlees (1997) model and Marginal Social Utility Criteria. The results of the study show that, the tax rates derived for three different levels of revenue as well as for zero level of the Degree of inequality aversion are nearly equal and is about 4 percent, which in turn endorses the one rate VAT system currently operating in Iran.

Neuroeconomics that has merged from the interaction of neuroscience, economics and psychology, is. Promising new approach to understanding human behavior in economic analysis, especially as an selector (that is the fundamental issue is economics). This article illustrate the advantages of neuroeconomics and with focus on methodology of economics and ability of this branch of economic for theorizing, is raised in defence of this branch. According to this article, should be noted that this new research program, based on the primary mission of the economics, created an opportunity for dialogue between economists and even among behavioural science and economics researchers. Knowing accuracy or incorrectly of assumptions (that used as base in economics) is the most important achievement of this branch of economics. Therefore neuroeconomics is not attempting to reject the previous theories, but takes steps to complete them.

This paper seeks to understand the role of the cost of pollution from vehicles fuel in feasibility of CNG national plan. Optimal control theory is used with two target functions, one with and another without the cost of pollution. Model results indicate the high importance of pollution cost in the project feasibility, in such a way that without consideration of that the project will be infeasible. In order to understand the model sensitivity to the cost of pollution, the sensitivity to reduce the cost of pollution had beeb analysed. The result shows that if we can improve the quality of gasoline and increase engine efficiency up to 60% of the amount of pollution reduced, the need to implement the national CNG plan will vanish.

In this paper using catastrophe theory, we investigate non-smooth changes in Tehran stock exchange. Stock market crashes bring not only panic among investors, but also in deeper market lead to recession and decrease in consumer's confidence. As catastrophe theory is strong tool in explaining nonlinear phenomena, by applying stochastic cusp catastrophe model we examine sudden change in Tehran stock exchange index. Our results demonstrate that cusp model is better than alternative model. In fact, by applying annually liquidity growth and volume as control variable, cusp catastrophe model describes sudden decline in Tehran stock exchange index much more preferable than nonlinear logistic model in 2004 and 2008. Our result is robust after de-trending the index.

The public sector is an influential partner of the market economy in many developing countries. In the absence of government's intervention, economic functioning of these countries could turn into constant disequilibrium without any hope of growth and economic prosperity. On the other hand unlimited government intervention could harm the economic growth by unnatural expansion of public sector and ensuing public corruption. It is known that government has discretionary power in providing public goods and regulating the economy. Corrupt bureacrats with this discretionary power creates and extracts rents by manipulating the public good supply and regulations: I) by attaching excessive red tape to the public good they are providing, II) or by making the regulations difficult for the private agents to comply with. The former type of corruption results in less public input being provided at higher cost to the private agents. The latter increases noncompliance, and results in bribery. Consequently, the overall public sector burden is higher in the environment with corrupt bureaucracy. We show this outcome using a simple theoretical model, and then confront it with empirical evidence.

Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), as a subset of New Institutional Economics (NIE), is the combination of Economics, Organization and Law. Noble Prize in 2009 was dedicated to Oliver Williamson who was the most popular face in the Economics as TCE main Contributor. In TCE, the main issues on the one hand  is how institutions follow Characteristics of Transactions, On the other hand, the making or buying decision or Vertical Integration is one of the focal question in TCE. For Operationalization of this question, TCE use The Discriminating Alignment Hypothesis. Base on this Hypothesis, governance structure aligns with characteristics of transaction subject to transactions costs minimization. In these perspectives, TCE reveals the proper answer to need of managers for make or buy decisions. So cognition of Station and foundations of TCE, with the consideration of its wide applications as interdisciplinary science in recent years, is the purposes of this article.

Nowadays the phrase "Social Capital" has become one of the widely used general terms in social studies. The impact of social capital on economies and politics has expanded and has opened new venues for solving social and political malaise. One of the effects of social capital is its impact on personal welfare. In this article we have used a dynamic model containing two equations to study the impact of social capital on income and personal welfare. The data used were obtained using responses to over two thousand questioners distributed is the capital of about 15 provinces in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2008. The results indicate that social capital affects both income and personal welfare in a positive way.