Journal of Economic Modeling Research

The Interactive Effect of Risk Institution and Natural Resource Abundance on Entrepreneurship Space in Selected Countries

Abolfazl Shahabadi

Development of the entrepreneurship space by helping to nurture entrepreneurs and increase the attitudes, abilities and aspirstions for entrepreneurship has a positive effect on the economic and social growth of societies. Because entrepreneurship is a source of innovation, employment, and economic growth and development. Therefore, determine the factors affecting of the entrepreneurship space is important in the economics and management disciplines. In this regard, the present study attempted to investigate the interactive impact of risk institution including political, economic and financial risks and abundance of natural resources on entrepreneurship space in resource-rich selected countries during the period 2014-2018. In order to achieve this goal, the research model was estimated using panel data approach and generalized moment method in two groups of countries. The results showed that the individual impact of political, economic and financial risks and the abundance of natural resources on the entrepreneurship space in the selected countries were negative and significant. Also, the interactive impact of political, economic and financial risks with the abundance of natural resources on the entrepreneurship space in the selected countries is negative and significant. However, the estimated coefficient of their interactive impact is larger than the estimated coefficient of their individual impact. Also, the impact of control variables gender gap and unemployment rate on the entrepreneurship space is negative and significant, and the impact of intellectual property rights on the entrepreneurship space is positive and significant.

Higher Education and Labor Market Imbalances in Iran: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

Davood Manzoor

Higher Education (HE) in Iran have been subject to a major expansion and massification in the recent years, in a way that number of students approximately tripled from 2006 to 2016. This would have possibly affected labor market or unemployment rate of the country. Considering both provincial and national level, this study investigates the relationship between HE expansion and unemployment rate in the recent era (2006-2018) empirically. In this regard, number of assignments, students, and the state budget allocated to HE institutions are taken as variables indicating HE expansion so that their relationship with unemployment rate can be explored. The empirical methodology of this study in national level is to consider trends and calculating correlations for different lags. In provincial level, Granger causality and dynamic panel data regression with systemic GMM estimators are utilized as methods of the analysis. The results show a positive significant correlation exists between the state budget of HE and unemployment rate. Moreover, in provincial level, number of students and assignments Granger cause unemployment in some lags. Dynamic panel data model with numerous specifications also approve a positive significant relationship between HE expansion in provinces and their unemployment rate, however, the effect is not the same considering different models, especially for number of students.

Granting Exit Option to the Insureds of the Iran Social Security Organization’s (ISSO) Pension Fund and its Impact on the Fund’s Sustainability

Abbas khandan

Collective pension funds have many advantages including larger risk pool and the possibility of interpersonal and intergenerational risk sharing, as well as economies of scale and lower administrative costs. For decades, however, this has been achieved through mandatory participation, while this traditional and mandatory form of contribution is no longer commensurate with the future of work. In this regard, many countries have implemented a combinatorial policy in the form of auto-enrolment pensions and then the granting of opting out authority. However, the sustainability of these schemes will depend on people's motivation to participate or leave. This article tries to examine the motivations of individuals to exit the Iran Social Security Organization (ISSO) pension fund, assuming that the insureds are given the opportunity to opt out once in a certain time. For this purpose, the method of option pricing is used. Findings show that insureds will accept even a 60 percent deficit in fund’s long-term liabilities for the only reason to take advantage of investment income of their predecessors funds or interpersonal and intergenerational risk sharing. It was also observed that an increase in the funding ratio, lower liabilities, a rise in assets and a higher rate of return on investments encourage participation and reduce the incentive to exit. A decline in accrual rate, increase in the contribution rate, higher retirement age, accelerating the adjustment rate of fund deficit due to their detrimental effect on the insureds have a direct negative effect on the incentive to participate and stimulate withdrawal. It should be noted, however, that these factors will also reduce liabilities and increase the funding ratio, thereby contributing to the sustainability of the plan may ultimately reduce the exit incentives.

An Analysis of the Negative Interest Rate Policy and its Effects on the Efficiency of Monetary Policy in the Framework of the Money in the Utility Function Model

Davoud Mahmoudinia

Today, the unconventional policy of negative interest rate is discussed in many Western societies and developed countries, and the implementation of this policy in the financial and banking system has brought growth and prosperity in many economies involved in the crisis. In fact, by applying a negative interest rate, the bank will be able to direct credit allocation to productive and priority sectors. On the other hand, this policy, along with the independence of the central bank and the non-interference of the government in creating liquidity and making money from it, can reduce the level of inflation. Iran is a developing country with high inflation, and the interest rate as a monetary policy will not be very effective in the economy and is determined by the monetary authorities under the government's rule. When governments face budget deficits due to sanctions and lack of revenue sources, they create money by relying on their supervision over the performance of the central bank and use it as a solution to earn money, Therefore, it fuels inflation in the society. Therefore, in this research, within the framework of the optimization model of the money demand function and the model of money in the utility function, taken from the study of Walsh (2003) and Sidrauski (1967) and its extension, we will investigate the behavior of negative interest rates on inflation and optimal money interest. The obtained results show that in the environment of money interest and inflation, with the application of negative nominal interest rate, the equilibrium path has a downward and decreasing trend, and in this situation, inflation and money interest will decrease in the long term. Therefore, the government has the ability to compensate for its budget deficit through solutions such as bonds and income tax, and in the long term, by reducing the money interest rate, it can reduce the level of inflation in the society and this will improve the social welfare of people.

Calculation Local Fiscal Stress in Iranian Provinces Using the TOPSIS Method (by Emphasizing on Third and Fourth Development Plans)

Maryam Heidarian

There is a situation that due to economic shocks and imbalances in structural budgets and its continuation leads to stress in governments in uncertainty conditions. Fiscal stress as a volatile situation in financing of local governments can exacerbate the inability of governments to meet short-term and long-term fiscal commitments and excessive dependence on the central government. So the positive and negative effects of stress are related to the actions and responses of central and local governments. It is essential that policymakers in central and local governments pay attention to accurate and timely signs of fiscal stress for respond to stresses effects. In this study, we tried to clarify the fiscal situation in 31 provinces of Iran by calculating the local fiscal stress index from variables of fiscal structure and budget of each province and then estimate the threshold and spatial effects of the index through Panel Smooth Transition Regression method on economic growth and employment over the period 2005-2017. The results show that border provinces have the highest stress among other provinces, and provinces located in the center or near the capital have less stress. These results indicate the high centralism that exists in the provinces of Iran and has hindered the fiscal independence of local governments so that they can control and regulate their own revenues and expenditures, and in this case, they suffer less fiscal pressure and stress.

Relationship between Natural Resources Types and Internal Conflict Risk in the MENAP Region Countries in the Context of the Political Resources Curse

Abolghasem Golkhandan

Based on theoretical foundations and empirical studies in the field of the relationship between natural resources and internal conflict, 4 states can be imagined: a. Positive relationship between natural resources abundance and internal conflict (hypothesis of political resources curse) b. positive relationship between natural resources scarcity and internal conflict (hypothesis of political resources endowment) c. Non-linear relationship between natural resources and internal conflict (combination of state A and B) d. Absence of relationship. Based on this, the main purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between natural resources types and internal conflict risk in the MENAP region countries during the period of 2000-2019 using the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM). For this purpose, the index of the percentage share of total natural resource rent from GDP and eight separate indicators including: the percentage share of oil, natural gas, coal, forest and mining rent from GDP, the percentage share of fuel export and the export of ore and metals from the export of goods and the percentage share of arable land in the total area have been used. The results show that there is a U-shaped relationship between the total rent of natural resources and the internal conflict risk; In other words, countries with a shortage of natural resources as well as countries with an abundance of natural resources have a higher internal conflict risk than other countries. This U-shaped relationship is also confirmed for oil rent and fuel export. Also, coal and forest rent have a meaningless effect and arable land has an inverted U effect on the internal conflict risk in the studied countries. The evaluation of the marginal effect of the total rent of natural resources on the internal conflict risk shows that its value varies from -0.08 to 0.1. According to the other results, per capita income and democracy have a negative and significant effect, and population and religious and racial tensions have a positive and significant effect on the internal conflict risk.

The Structure and Causal Relationships for the Pricing Components of Tourism Products During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping Approach

Saeed Dehghan Khavari

Price, as an element of marketing, plays an essential role in the decision-making of tourists as well as the income of tourism activists. Therefore, it is essential to identify the components and factors affecting the pricing process. The outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran has drawn the attention of tourism businesses to the necessity of the pricing process and updating the price of tourism products. We examined the pricing components of tourism products by qualitative-quantitative approach and using fuzzy cognitive mapping. We identified 29 pricing factors of tourism products using the opinion of 9 tourism experts. In the next step, 18 factors were selected in 4 dimensions using semi-structured interviews. Finally, we identified the most important components of tourism products’ pricing during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings indicate that four components of cost coverage and loss prevention, purchasing power, survival in the tourism market, and the extent of tourist demand are more important than other components during the coronavirus outbreak.