JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Year:2006 | Volume:6 | Issue:20|Papers Count:6

Numerous studies have been carried out on market microstructure recently. One of the most important components of market microstructure is bid-ask spread. The main goal of this paper is to review the relationship between financial information and bid-ask spread in Tehran Stock Exchange. Therefore 156 sample firms whose required data for a three-year period was available are selected. Then information about 8 independent variables is collected and bid-ask spread was also computed as dependent variable. Simple and multiple regression techniques were used to examine the hypotheses. Significance of models is examined by T and F statistics. The conclusions account for the independent variables that are employed in the paper measuring more than fifty one percent of variation changes in Bid-Ask spread.

In examining recent export promotion policies, it is very important to have a proper econometric estimation of export demand and supply elasticities. In this paper, we applied pooled mean group  estimation of Dynamic  Heterogeneous Panels, which enabled us to we infer the speed of adjustment of demand and supply of export to the demand and supply shocks, whit the mechanism of error correction in the framework of a panel of nine sub-sectors of industrial activities. The obtained supply and demand elasticities show that  export goods enjoy a satisfactory competitive position. but the speed of adjustment of suppliers is more than the speed of adjustment of demand  the side. Therefore, in the case of a positive shock to the demand side, these exports will have inertia and expand very quickly, while in the case of negative shock the competition edge will be eroded and even may lead to terms of trade loss. Hence, an alternative proposal for export promotion policies has been provided.

Economic freedom and lack of imposing limitations on output and distribution of goods & services have remarkable effects on economic growth as well as per capita income of countries. The present paper is based on the framework of Lakatos methodology and uses the Skipton model to deal with the impact of economic freedom on per capita of 87 countries (including low-medium and high income) during 1980-2003. It also concentrates on combinations of Carlson - Lundstrom and Weinhold models to investigate the effect of economic freedom on economic growth of the same countries for the period under consideration.Our findings support the positive impacts of economic freedom on both per capita and economic growth of all different samples of the countries. We have also shown that among the elements of economic freedom, judiciaries independence; property rights security; sound money; labour market laws; and credibility have the highest impacts on per capita incomes. In additions the paper concludes that judiciaries independence; property rights security; labour market laws; and credibility have the highest effects on economic growth.

Considering the variations in the exchange rate system in Iran during the past years and the effects of these variations on the creation of misalignment, the recognition of the problem of deviation of the exchange rate from its equilibrium trend and the effect of these changes on the macroeconomic variables can offer a remedy to economic policy makers, which can be used in economic planning. In this paper, having shown the presence of the deviation of the exchange rate from its equilibrium trend, the paper examine the effects of this variable on Iran's economy using appropriate definitions of deviation of the exchange rate and explanation of economic growth models. To this end, using annual data for years 1959-2004 and with the use of VAR and VECM the short and the long - run relationship between the two variables,i.e., deviation from equilibrium exchange rate trend and economic growth, have been examined and it was shown that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between the two variables in the short run, but in the long run the relationship between the two variables was found to be negative.

One of the important strategies in protecting domestic economy is the use of non tariff and non tariff instruments. However, in recent decades, many theorists have presented ideas about the effects of domestic factors (e.g. domestic stimuluses and interest groups or macroeconomic policies and indices) on the trend of the protective strategies (called the theory of endogenous protection). These theorists view trade policy forming mechanism as market structure which consists of two sides: demand side and supply side. Supply of Policies depends on policy makers, preferences and institutions, while demand of Policies depends on voters’ preferences and interest group pressures.The purpose of this paper is to review the litreture of endogenous protecy and to investigate the protection policy forming mechanism. This study may–with better understanding of the characteristics and trends of these policies– present more accurate analysis for the past performances of the economy and achieve some more consistent programming schemes for the future

Several environmental goods and services are not traded in markets. This has serious consequences for private decision making. Economists have used methods for valuing goods and services provided by the environment. In this paper we have applied a method named Hedonic Price to estimate the household's marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) of for air quality improvement in metropolitan Tabriz. Results of a survey of 1023 households show that the technique works satisfactorily. Air pollution has a significant negative effect on property values in the polluted areas. The average households MWTP for a unit decrease in air pollutant is estimated about 110000 Rials. This shows that rent of houses located in relatively pollutd areas is less than those located in non polluted area.