JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT (THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH)
Year:2014 | Volume:13 | Issue:4|Papers Count:9

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of market structure on innovation and R&D in Iran’s manufacturing sector. To do this, first, statistical data for Iran’s manufacturing sector has been gathered in International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) format, then mutual effects of concentration, innovation and R&D, advertising and profitability in different industrial activities have been analyzed using simultaneous equations system and Error Component Tow Stage Least Squares (EC2SLS) during 1996-2007. The results show that industrial concentration has a significant and inverted U-shaped relationship with innovation and R&D. In addition, R&D expenditure declines with increases in profitability. The investigation of the factors affecting manufacturing structure indicates that although innovation and R&D has no effect on manufacturing structure, but profitability and performance of top firms affect their concentration. Our findings exhibit the ineffectiveness of concentration and innovational behavior on industries performance; whereas increasing market concentration results in advertising expenses and innovational behavior of firms raises advertising expenses. Similarly, the lagged and accumulated effects of R&D confirm the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between concentration and R&D.

In the economic literature, inflation is one of the most important factors influencing income inequality. Since Iran as a developing country has frequently been facing with high and volatile inflation rates, the study of the effect of inflation on income inequality is of considerable importance. Despite the importance of the issue, the few studies that have dealt with this subject have not derived same result, so the effect of inflation on income inequality remains paradoxical. However, the economic studies in recent decades confirm the nonlinear relationship between inflation and income inequality. Inspired by these studies, we investigate the nonlinear effect of inflation on income inequality during 1971-2006. Likewise, we examine the Granger causality relationship between inflation and income inequality by using “Toda & Yamamoto” and “Error correction” procedures during 1971-2007.

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a method for more accurately measurement of structural breaks’ impacts of money demand function using fuzzy set approach. Hence, we present a robust method in order to modeling endogenous structural breaks. To do this, first, we review the recent studies on modeling structural breaks in money demand using nonlinear transition functions and fuzzy set theory, then we examine theoretical basics of fuzzy sets, membership and transition functions. In this paper, we model the structural breaks in money demand function via fuzzy set theory by using transition function instead of membership functions. In this regard, after introducing a new transition function, we model the 1993 structural break of money demand in Iran using a binary dummy variable and various transition functions. The findings show that the AS transition function due to more flexibility provides more accurate results rather than binary dummy variable, exponential and logistic transition functions. In general, if the dependent variable of the model is stationary, use of the binary dummy variable for modeling structural breaks causes misspecification. Also, if the dependent variable is non-stationary, due to increasing shock effect, the use of binary dummy variable is wrong.

This paper assesses the impact of social capital on economic sustainable development amongst the economic activists at New Shemiran informal community of Tehran municipality’s 4th region. The research uses survey, descriptive and analytical methods and utilizes questionnaire for data collecting to evaluate the relationship between social capital and local economic sustainable development. It examines the ability of direct and indirect measurement methods of social capital regarding statistical data. The results confirm a significant positive relationship between social capital and economic sustainable development. Hence, high social capital resulting from economic motivations of the studied group is a means for increasing the local economic sustainability.

Entering firms into a business can be a sign of economic dynamism, but to what extent do they enter according to optimal size or converge to it? The answers are given in two approaches. In the first approach, a new- entrant enterprise adjusts its size by learning market and continues to its activity. In the second approach, the enterprise does not adjust its size and exits the market. In this regard, the study of size distribution of new enterprises in Iran’s textile industry is the main purpose of this research. We collect statistical data for new textile businesses during 1997-2005 from Statistical Center of Iran. We use nonparametric method and indicators of employment, output value and value-added for evaluation of the size distribution. The results indicate that the employment size distribution follows an active learning model and does not adapt itself with market conditions. Regarding output value and value-added, the textile businesses follow a passive learning model and converge to the Lognormal distribution. The inability of firms in convergence by employment and their ability in convergence by output and value added criteria are some signs of a rigid labor market in Iran. According to these findings, reconsidering the labor law in order to making it more flexible is essential.

To investigate the effects of pricing policies in the production of Colza, first, we estimate demand function for inputs of Colza oil production by applying the Almost Ideal ‎Supply System (AISS) and supply ‎function for Colza by applying the Koyck model in Iran during 1989-2009. Then, using the calculated supply and demand elasticities, we compute equilibrium price and ‎quantity for 2008 in the absence of government intervention and‎ compare them with current situation. Finally, we evaluate the effects of floor price policy on the ‎producer surplus for Colza in 2008. The results show that price elasticities ‎of supply of and demands for Colza are greater and less than one, respectively. In addition, the performance of pricing ‎policy is not too effective, since floor price is slightly higher than the equilibrium price. Thus, it is recommended that floor price is determined at a level upper than equilibrium price.

The aim of this article is to review the quantitative targeting of research and development expenditure in the Fifth Plan Act and executive policies of the science and technology. This article models the explaining and affecting factors of the research and development regarding to the theoretical and experimental studies.The main determinants of R&D expenditure in each economy are as follows: the intellectual property rights system; degree of government efficiency in defining, ensuring and implementing property rights; industrial structure and economy technology-intensiveness; the degree of economic openness and competitiveness; the share of large-scale firms in research and development; methods of R & D expenditure financing and the R& D production structure.The comparative comparison of main influencing factors on the research and development Intensity (RDI) in Iran with OECD RDI shows that the effective national absorption capacity of R& D expenditure in Iran, on average, is less than 20% of OECD corresponding capacity. The evidence shows that the bulk of research and development in Iran is financed by the government research credits. Naturally, we expect that effectiveness of R&D expenditure would be negligible, since the provided expenditure is not proportional to the national absorption capacity of research and development.According to pathology results, three amendments are proposed to research and development policies of the Fifth Plan in order to increase the efficiency and the productivity of R&D expenditure.The first major amendment is that the targeting of effective research and development expenditure of gross national product reach to 1.5 % in the end of the plan. Also, a fundamental attitude change towards research credits with focus on firms and non-governmental sector is essential for efficacy of consumed resources.The second proposal emphasizes on the software research and development policies. The Iranian research system focuses on hardware components and quantitative indicators, for example, budget, organization and the first-level R&D hardware products i.e., scholar papers.It is recommended that the software components of R &D including the property rights system, the national innovation system, the national learning system, motivation and reward system, efficacy evaluation, the research market, and interactive relationship of the research and development with economic competitiveness components are included in development plans. The third proposal is to develop the statistics and information system of R&D in Iran.

One of the most important issues in economics is to explain the considerable differences among nations in context of economic growth and well-being. In the recent decades, a consensus among economists suggests that institutions are the main reason for mentioned differences.  If this is the case, immediately a question arises: which institutions are of the most importance in the growth and development process? So far, various classifications of institutions discuss on roles of them on economic performance. Rodrik (2005) classify institutions into four various categories; market creating institutions, market regulating institutions, market stabilizing institutions, and market legitimizing institutions. In this paper, we estimate the effect of these institutions on development by using dynamic GMM panel data method for the periods 1980-2009 and 1995-2009. The results suggest that market creating institutions and market stabilizing institutions are affecting per capita GDP, but the other institutions have no significant impact on global economic growth.

In this study, we survey the effects of cash payments of electrical energy subsidies on prices index based on a computable general equilibrium model for Iran using a social accounting matrix (SAM) in 2006. We applied three scenarios on cash payments and their financing through (a) surplus revenues of government, (b) sales tax on electricity and (c) income tax on household revenue, and combined these scenarios with the scenario of increase in prices. The results show that in cases (a) and (c); the general prices level and price indices have direct relationship with cash subsidies and electricity prices.  However, in case (b), financing through sales tax, due to changes in the composition of aggregate demand, results in decreasing general price level.