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Poverty, inequality, and populist politics in Iran

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  • Djavad Salehi-Isfahani

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Abstract

Despite nearly three decades of revolutionary government rule, poverty and inequality remain the central issues of political debate in Iran. The unexpected electoral victory of Ahmadinejad, the populist candidate in the 2005 presidential election, has been widely attributed to rising poverty and inequity. Using household survey data, I examine the trends in poverty and inequality for the last three decades and show that this thesis is not grounded in facts. Survey data show that poverty has substantially declined in recent years, and is low by international standards and in comparison with pre-revolution years. This �nding is consistent with pro-poor policies of the Islamic government, mainly in provision of basic infrastructure such as electricity, safe drinking water, and health. However, the same policies have not been as elective in reducing in- equality, which, after an initial decline following the Revolution, has remained basically constant in the post-Revolution period.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10888-007-9071-y
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Springer in its journal The Journal of Economic Inequality.

Volume (Year): 7 (2009)
Issue (Month): 1 (March)
Pages: 5-28

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Handle: RePEc:kap:jecinq:v:7:y:2009:i:1:p:5-28

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Web page: http://springerlink.metapress.com/link.asp?id=111137

Related research

Keywords: Poverty; Inequality; Iran; Islamic Revolution; Populism; D63; D72; N35;

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References

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  1. Klaus Deininger & Lyn Squire, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," CEMA Working Papers 512, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
  2. Biewen, Martin & Jenkins, Stephen P., 2003. "Estimation of Generalized Entropy and Atkinson Inequality Indices from Complex Survey Data," IZA Discussion Papers 763, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2001. "Growth is good for the poor," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2587, The World Bank.
  4. Jean-Yves Duclos & Joan Esteban & Debraj Ray, 2003. "Polarization: Concepts, Measurement, Estimation," Working Papers 46, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
  5. Anand, Sudhir & Kanbur, S. M. R., 1993. "The Kuznets process and the inequality--development relationship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 25-52, February.
  6. Hongyi Li & Lyn Squire & Tao Zhang & Heng-fu Zou, 1999. "A Data Set on Income Distribution," CEMA Working Papers 575, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
  7. Esfahani, Hadi Salehi, 2005. "Alternative public service delivery mechanisms in Iran," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 497-525, May.
  8. Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1983. "The Impact of Income Components on the Distribution of Family Incomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 98(2), pages 311-26, May.
  9. Biewen, Martin, 2002. "Bootstrap inference for inequality, mobility and poverty measurement," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 317-342, June.
  10. Dean Jolliffe & Anastassia Semykina, 2000. "Robust standard errors for the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke class of poverty indices," Stata Technical Bulletin, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(51).
  11. Milanovic, Branko & DEC, 1994. "Determinants of cross-country income inequality : an augmented Kuznets hypothesis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1246, The World Bank.
  12. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2006. "Revolution and redistribution in Iran: poverty and inequality 25 years later," Working Papers e06-3, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Economics.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Yu-chin Chen & Kwok Ping Tsang & Wen Jen Tsay, 2010. "Home Bias in Currency Forecasts," Working Papers 272010, Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.
  2. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Insan Tunali & Ragui Assaad, 2009. "A Comparative Study Of Returns To Education Of Urban Men In Egypt, Iran, And Turkey," Middle East Development Journal (MEDJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(02), pages 145-187.
  3. Arman Bidarbakht Nia, 2011. "Examining Poverty and Inequality across Small Areas of Islamic Republic Of Iran; Toolmaking for Efficient Welfare Policies," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 18(1), pages 125-159, June.

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