JOURNAL OF THE MARCO AND STRATEGIC POLICIES
Year:2019 | Volume:7 | Issue:2 (26)|Papers Count:8

Due to economic, technological, and cultural changes, low-cost home-based businesses have been reconsidered as a way to provide a sustainable income. A home-based business is a continuous activity, in the production or distribution of goods or services. It is carried out where people reside to earn a living. This study aims to identify the characteristics of home-based businesses in Iran, England, and India and then presents some solutions at the macro level for improving the conditions of home-based businesses with a focus on Iran conditions. In this study, we compared the similarities, differences, and characteristics of the home-based businesses, as well as the context in which they grow. This research with a comparative-descriptive approach and analyzing the current statistics, information, and policies analysis tries to recognize comparatively the influential factors on the sustainability and success of home-based businesses. Based on our research, although some solutions for the success of these businesses are related to the overall business environment, it is possible to improve their working conditions and access to different markets by taking some measures such as providing access to information resources, education, social networks, and financing, which are specific to these businesses.

Due to the sensitivity of and continual conflicts in the Middle East, many countries in this region allocate a significant amount of gross domestic product to the defense sector. Accordingly, the primary purpose of this paper is to estimate the demand function of the defense budget in 13 Middle East countries from 1995 to 2014. For this purpose, a general model of defense spending was designed for these countries, and then it was evaluated by System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) in a dynamic panel data model. The results of model estimation show that non-defense expenditure (as the opportunity cost of defense expenditure) and the trade balance had negative effects on the defense burden of Middle East countries. The population variable, although at a significantly lower level than other variables, has had a positive impact on the defense burden of the Middle East countries, indicating that defense is a public good. The variables of per capita income, the share of armed forces personnel (% of the total workforce) and the lagged defense burden, as expected, have had a positive impact on the defense burden of the Middle East countries. The average defense burden of all Middle East countries has a positive effect on the defense burden of the countries in this region, indicating an arms race between these countries. Also, the dummy variable of oil-exporting countries and net democracy variable, respectively, have had positive and negative effects on the defense burden of the Middle East countries.

Having a clear road map to achieve social, economic, and cultural excellence is essential and valuable for every country. Such a road map shows various priorities and main issues of a country to draw attention, promotion, and financial and social investment on these issues. Concerning the significance of this issue and usefulness of intercountry comparison, the primary purpose of this paper was to conduct a comparative study between macro policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and long-term economic objectives of the Russian Federation. We applied a descriptive-analytical method in this research and compared two countries by using library method and overhead documents. The regional economic and political cooperation of two countries, as well as their sanctioned economies, highlights the necessity of familiarizing with mass economic policies of Russia. The findings of this research have practical aspect for Iranian policymakers and planners.

In line with Section 2-77 of the Science, Technology and Innovation Division of the Sixth Development Plan Act, the purpose of the present article is to classify different perspectives on the localization of knowledge in the field of humanities (with emphasis on psychology) and the feasibility of indigenous knowledge production and production in the Positivism and post Positivism paradigm. Therefore, the viewpoints of different thinkers on localization were analyzed and deduced by the analytical documentary method. The findings show that localization at the four levels of the introduction of new science into the host community through mere translation initiated Scientific research in the host com-munity, translation of scientific concepts according to the cultural and social environment of the Cup Host, and finally a critical reflection on indigenous concepts and theories, and constructivism and theorizing are indispensable, and consequently, localization implies the use of scientifically accepted principles to solve the problems of the host community and in the production of indigenous knowledge that, on the one hand, approaches Philosophical and scientific on the other hand is in line with the Iranian Islamic worldview, the highest level being considered, translation initiation; the process of localization in this classification has a hierarchical path that leads from complete knowledge to the production of indigenous knowledge. Appropriate attention is required to each of these levels, with emphasis on the fourth level.

The business environment is one of the factors affecting the performance of the companies and managers, or business owners cannot change or improve it. The purpose of this study is to reach a comprehensive understanding of the importance of indicators for improving the business environment and assessing their performance in housing investment, which is one of the most important economic sectors in Iran. This is an analytical survey study, and the data were collected by a questionnaire. After validation of the questionnaire, it was distributed among real and legal mass constructors of Mazandaran Province who had a university degree in civil engineering, architecture, and other related fields of construction. For statistical analysis, the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) model was used. According to the study results, of the 10 indicators of the business environment, the 3 indicators of getting credit from the bank, protecting investors, and conditions and terms of taking permits are the most critical factors affecting the investment of the housing sector. Also, the indicator of access to infrastructure services has the highest performance in this field.

The labor market is one of four major markets in the economy; it is important because of its unique features. In the present study, the long-term effects of various macroeconomic shocks on the unemployment rate have been investigated from 1974 to 2016 using the Structural Vector Error Correction Model (SVECM). Based on the estimated equation, the real wages have a direct relationship with efficiency and employment and an indirect relationship with the unemployment rate. Impulse response analysis showed that among the shocks, efficiency and supply shocks have a more substantial impact on unemployment so that the efficiency shocks reduce the unemployment rate in the long run and the positive labor supply shock leads to higher unemployment. According to the results of unemployment forecast of error variance decomposition, the shock of labor supply, efficiency, and labor demand are determinant factors of unemployment in the long run. But the most critical factor in unemployment is the supply shocks that their effect increases over time.

In this research, the effect of five macroeconomic variables of the exchange rate, gross domestic product, relative prices of agricultural commodities, agricultural capital, and money supply is investigated on the agricultural and traditional exports during 1986-2014. In the present study, we used the Vector Auto-Regressive (VAR) model and the Johansen method. The results show a positive and significant correlation between agricultural and traditional exports and variables of the exchange rate, relative prices, and money supply. However, there is a negative and significant relationship between agricultural capital and the dependent variable. Besides, there is a one-way causal relationship between the exchange rate and agricultural exports as well as the supply of money and agricultural exports. Finally, using the modified coefficient of Error-Correction Mechanism (ECM), we can infer that if an imbalance occurs in agricultural exports in any year, a quarter of imbalance will be restored in the next period. To determine the relationship between variables, in the long run, we used Johansson method to estimate the convergent vectors and apply constraints on cointegration relations. Based on the study results, we suggest that economic authorities should try to approximate the exchange rates and eliminate the gap between central bank exchange rate and free-market exchange rate. This method is the best way to stabilize the exchange rate, and consequently, export stability in the long run. To do this, the proper monetary and financial measures must be taken to direct liquidity toward production and boost the capital market.

In the 20 th century, market failure in the optimal allocation of resources and the rising poverty in the competitive market resulted in the formation of the welfare state idea with socialist tendencies in the fight against poverty, especially absolute poverty by the governments. The 2015 Economics Nobel Prize to Dayton Angus indicates this government’ s change in allocation instrument of the market in the fight against poverty. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the educational and sanitarian government expenditures and resource curse effects on absolute poverty in Iran. Using a Markov switching method, the factors affecting poverty have been modelled and the hypothesis was tested during the period 1985-2014. The results showed that an increase in educational government expenditures had a significant and negative effect on absolute poverty but higher sanitarian government expenditures did not have a decreasing impact on poverty. Also, the evaluation of resource curse hypothesis showed that oil revenue had a threshold and nonlinear effect on absolute poverty. In other words, as long as oil revenue share is less than 13%, the increase in oil revenue portion leads to decrease in absolute poverty but passing more than 13% threshold in oil revenue portion increases absolute poverty.