Journal of Economic Research
Year:2004 | Volume:- | Issue:66|Papers Count:14

The information technology (IT) has arrived, but how much will it change the status of women. By using a cross countries data, we employ cross section (linear and curvilinear regressions) to assess the impact of the technology on the status of women. The main independent variables are Technology Achievement Index (TAl) and its components i.e. HUI)1anSkill Index (HSI), Technology Creation Index (TCI), Diffusion of Recent- Innovation Index (IT) and Diffusion of old Innovation Index(DII). The dependent variables are the status of women, Gender inequality (GI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). The results confirm the existence of an inverse U relationship between TAl (IT, HIS, TCI&DII) and the status of women as well as GEM. Furthermore there exists a linear negative and weak relationship between TAl and GI. In brief, the results reveal that the impact ofIT on the status of women and women empowerment in the early stages is negligible, but in the advanced stages its impact is significant, nevertheless the impact of IT on decreasing gender inequalitywas not significant.

The new-classic economists confirm that all trade distortions out of governmental economic policies may deviate the economic growth rate and per capita income in a long-term process of transitional period from its main path. In this paper and in order to show the effects of tariffs on economic growth, at first we maximize the household utility function in a neo-classic model. The period of our study is from 1961 up to 1998. The effects of tariff on economic growth have been considered in two different scenarios. The results of both confirm that any trade restrictions may result in a reduction in economic growth rate. In this manner, the effect of tariff rate on economic growth in post- revolution period in comparison with pre-revolution one has decreased due to reduction in degree of openness and reduction of population growth rate. On the other hand, any lower depreciation rate may have a negative effect on economic growth. Therefore, we conclude that trade, free from any limitations, may pave the way for economic growth and reveal its positive effect on it

In recent years, some authors have suggested that economic integration and liberalization of international trade are likely to have positive effects not only on productivity levels. but also on long-term productivity growth rates in developing countries. Using a panel of Iranian manufacturing industries, this paper examines several alternative mechanisms through which trade contributes positively to productivity levels and growth rates. Special attention is paid to the trade liberalization implemented in Iran after 1989. The results indicate that reductions in rates of protection have significant positive effects on sectoral productivity levels. The estimates also suggest that after liberalization, increasing share of exports in total output increased average total factor productivity by 9.3 percent. However, the rates are found to be statistically insignificant. When there are greate price distortions and under- utilized capacity, import liberalization may well produce quick increases in factor productivity in short-term but something more fundamental has to come into play to increase the long-term growth rate.

Most of the available empirical studies about specification of import demand function are concerned with two kinds of specification: traditional and foreign exchange constraint specification. In recent years, with the improvement in new econometrics approaches and considerable progress of co-integration tests for investigating the long-run relationship among understudy variables, most of the empirical studies about import demand function of developing countries have put aside the foreign exchange constraint specification, explored the traditional specificationof import demand function and accepted it. This study intends to reassess the existence of a long-run relationship among the constituent variables of the traditional of Irans import demand function by applying. a new approach called" Bounds Testing Approach" (Pesaran; shin &smith 200I). The results of this study indicate that the value of demanded import, relative import prices and real domestic income of Iran throughout 1959-2000 are cointegrated. Also the long-run estimated income and price elasticities whit ARDL approach are 1. 595 and -1. 44.respectively

This paper studies energy efficiency and productivity in the Iranian economic sectors (Industrial, Transportation and Agricultural sectors). We estimate energy input and price elasticity in two sectors (Industrial and Transportation sectors). In this paper we also have estimated input and price elasticity for transportation and industry by TSLS (two stage least square) that has derived from a production function. The estimation of production function which energy has entered as an input shows input elasticity in transportation sector is 1.2 and in industrial .sector 0.7. These results show energy input elasticity is high in these sectors. The price elasticity that has derived from production function in transportation .sector is 0.2 and in industry sector 0.4. This means that energy is an inelastic input here. Then it .indicates that price policy is not the only effective policy for energy saving in these sectors and it is necessary to combine with other policies.

Literature review of business cycle in economic studies is very old. The economists viewpoints are focused on two directions. Recognition of effective factors, and statistical characteristics of business cycle. In this paper, the business cycle ofIrans economy is investigated for 1959-2001. The methodology consists of four steps: the tirs, to estimate the long-run trend of real GDP in linear form, the second, to measure deviation of real GDP from long-run trend, this gaps means, there are periods of recession and boom in economy, the third, to investigate that, the gaps of GDP are stochastic or there is a serial correlation model, we answered this question by Run-Test method. And the fourth, if serial correlation model is confirm how many years length of time a period of business cycle in Iran economics? We estimate by Box-Piers statistic. As a result: There are serial corelations in business cycle of Iran and the period of one cycle is a bout 11 years. In addition: oil incomes, investment, budget deficit and liquidity are the most important factors in forming business cycle ofIrans economy. Long-run Economic policies for modified business cycles by this paper are obvious.

A hypothesis that has been examined is convergence which was introduced by Baumol (1986) and Abramovitz (1986). Barro and Sala-I-Martin (1991,1992, 1995) examined two kinds of convergence: (1) Absolute Beta-convergence means higher real per capita income growth for regions with lower initial per capita income when regions (or countries) are the same in their growth path parameters, Conditional Beta-convergence means higher per capita income growth for regions with lower initial per capita income after accounting for differences in regional growth path parameters; Sigma-convergence means the reduction of regional per capita income variance with the passage of time. The main contribution of this paper is the examination of convergence by using the data on demand deposits of Irans provinces for the time period 1369- 1379(1990-2000) on the basis of endogenous money supply theory in both RBC and Post-Keynesian traditions. Our findings do not support Beta and Sigmaconvergence in Irans provinces.

The contribution of capital formation in new economic growth models, due to its importance, has been continually expanded. In this paper, based on theoretical analysis and empirical studies, the effects of foreign investment on economic growth with an emphasis on foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment are investigated. The results confIrm the strengthening of the role of investment and indicate that among different foreign investment flows, FDI plays the most effective role in economic growth. In addition, due to its creative motivations, FDI shows a clearer and stable prospective in development plans aimed growth. In this direction, according to the results of the study, the flexibility of production structures, capacity of investment absorption in host countries and the intensity of the countries requirement to the foreign financial resources are the most important determinants of FDI effectiveness on the countries economic growth.

The applicability of the traditional theories in urban economy analysis has faced serious doubts since the dependency of national economy and especialIy the urban economy relied on the national surplus resulted from selIing oil instead of local surplus or agricultural products. Using some documents from the case study of Ham Province, this article has drawn a scientific comparison between rent capitalism theory, government and urbanization, and shows that the urban economy has not used the, existing rural resources or veterinary and agricultural products is mentioned in rent capital theory. But the government has played a determining role in organizing urban economy through developing governmental organization and benefiting from the financial resources of oil (national surplus). For this reason, this article in addition to questioning the generalization of time and place in rent capitalism theory has emphasized on the applicability of the theory of government and urbanization in analyzing the urban economy and explaining the latest urbanization process.