The Impact of Energy Security on the Economic Growth

This study examines the impact of energy security on the economic growth of the 10 selected energy exporting countries in the Middle East. The Benchmark model is based on a generalized version of Cobb Douglass’s production function.  Ten measures of energy security have been used for the whole set of panels, using five concepts of energy security including, availability, accessibility, acceptability, cost- effectiveness and development capability. The paper uses estimated generalized least squares (EGLS), and panel– corrected standard error (PCSE) to estimate the model. Based on the results, the lack of difference between "energy production" and "energy consumption", has a positive effect on the economic growth of selected Middle Eastern energy exporting countries . Also, "national energy supply ability", "national energy structure", "renewable energy consumption", "carbon dioxide emissions from fossil energy consumption", "political stability" and "oil price" also have a positive effect on the economic growth of these countries. But the amount of "energy intensity" and "the ratio of carbon dioxide emissions to GDP" had a negative impact on their economic growth

Effects of Government Investment in Energy Sector on Growth, Employment and Private Investment in Iran

This research analyzes governmental investment effects in energy sector including subsectors of oil, gas and electricity on growth, private investment and employment in agriculture, industry and mining, and services during 1971-2013. We use vector autoregressive models in order to derive the response of variables, impulse response function and variance decomposition. The results indicate that governmental investment influence growth in agriculture, industries and mining, and services negatively but in median-term, it influences agriculture, and industries and mining positively. Effect of government investment is positive for private investment. In industries and mining sector, the relationship is positive in long term and negative in middle term. Keywords: Energy Sector, Government Investment, Economic Growth, Employment, Private Investment, Vector Autoregressive Method JEL Classifications: C01, O16, E24, 040, H54

The Effects of Resource Rent, Human Capital and Government Effectiveness on Government Health Expenditure in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

The low economic growth and lack of qualified institutions have led to a lower level of health in the resource-rich developing countries. This paper explores the effects of resource rent, human capital and government effectiveness on government health expenditure in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). It uses Panel Fully Modified Least Squares (Panel-FMOLS) method in Eviews software over the period 2002 – 2015. Findings imply that the resource rent, human development index and government effectiveness influence directly the government expenditure on health, when the interactions between explanatory variables are ignored. However, the sign and magnitude of coefficients are changed, when interaction terms are included in regression models. The oil rents affect the healthcare sector in OPEC. Accordingly, the abundance of oil resources is not bad per se. Thus, the key determinant in the transformation of rents from oil resources into disaster or blessing is the government effectiveness across oil exporting countries. Keywords: Health, Resource rent, Panel-FMOLS JEL Classifications: C52, I15, P48 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.757

Reclassification Risk Management in the Health Insurance Market of Iran

Introduction: Reclassification risk in the health insurance market happens when premiumprices are determined based on the health level. It is necessary for insurance applicants tomanage this risk due to uncertainty about the individual’s health status in later periods.Guaranteed renewable insurance fully covers this risk because the health level is not takeninto account in calculating the premiums. This study is an attempt to calculate the welfarebenefits resulting from the coverage of this risk by providing guaranteed renewable insurancein this market.Methods: The economic welfare model in the form of computable general equilibrium hasbeen used to measure welfare. The model is calibrated by the data of social accounting matrixand national health accounts in 2011. Social accounting matrix is extracted based on the latestinput-output table for the economy of Iran presented in this yeaResults: The results show that, in general, the more guaranteed renewable insurance expandsin the health insurance market, the greater the welfare effects will be; therefore, the eliminationof basic insurance from this market and provision of the same insurance for all people in theform of guaranteed renewable insurance (complete elimination of reclassification risk) canincrease economic welfare up to 6%.Conclusion: Reclassification risk management by providing guaranteed renewable insurancein the health insurance market of Iran, due to increasing the welfare of the insured, will leadto the provision of a unit insurance plan and equal access to health services for all

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فساد پدیدهای پیچیده، چند بعدی و دارای علل و آثار چندگانه است و دامنه آن از یک عمل فردی (مانند رشوه) تا یک سوء عمل فراگیر که تمام ارکان نظام سیاسی و اقتصادی را در برمیگیرد، گسترده است. به رغم پیچیدگی، دشواری و حساسیت سروکار یافتن با این عارضه، در سالهای اخیر مطالعات گستردهای در اندازهگیری فساد، بیان علل ارتکاب چنین فعالیت مجرمانه و ارائه راهکارهای بازدارنده از سوی مجامع بین المللی انجام شده است. این مقاله با استفاده از منطق فازی، ضمن بیان چگونگی مدلسازی روابط اقتصادی، الگوریتم جدیدی برای سنجش فساد در ایران معرفی میکند. نتایج حاصل از پژوهش نشان میدهد - با فرض آنکه حجم اقتصاد زیرزمینی و شاخص واقعی دستمزد مهمترین عوامل اقتصادی پدیده فساد باشند- روند شاخص فازی فساد ایران در فاصله سالهای 43 تا 48 با شاخص عددی حدود 0/7 بیشترین مقدار را داشته که طی دوره (1348 -53) کاهش یافته است. در فاصله سالهای (1353-58) و همچنین از سال 73 به بعد روند صعودی است. بعد از انقلاب اسلامی و در دوران جنگ تحمیلی شاخص عددی از پایداری نسبی برخوردار بوده و بین 0/3 تا 0/5 نوسان داشته است. بعد از جنگ تحمیلی نیز روند افزایشی شاخص فازی فساد مشاهده میشود

Environmental pollution and economic growth elasticities of maritime and air transportations in Iran

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of maritime and air transportation on the environment and economy of Iran. The authors specify two dynamic models of the environmental pollution and the economic growth. Then, the authors estimate the environmental and economic elasticities of maritime and air transportation in short run and long run in Iran during 1978–2012. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate the environmental and economic elasticities of maritime elasticities in short and long run, using simultaneous equations system. Findings – The findings indicate that the short- and long-run environmental pollution elasticities of maritime transportation are higher than those of the air ones. In addition, the economic growth elasticities are greater in the air transportation compared to maritime one. As a result, the maritime transportation is more pollutant and less productive in Iran in comparison with the air transportation. Originality/value – The policymakers are advised to improve the infrastructure of maritime transportation from both the environmental and economic point of views. Consequently, the air transportation is considered as a cleaner and more beneficial transportation m

Environmental pollution and economic growth elasticities of maritime and air transportations in Iran

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of maritime and air transportation on the environment and economy of Iran. The authors specify two dynamic models of the environmental pollution and the economic growth. Then, the authors estimate the environmental and economic elasticities of maritime and air transportation in short run and long run in Iran during 1978–2012. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate the environmental and economic elasticities of maritime elasticities in short and long run, using simultaneous equations system. Findings – The findings indicate that the short- and long-run environmental pollution elasticities of maritime transportation are higher than those of the air ones. In addition, the economic growth elasticities are greater in the air transportation compared to maritime one. As a result, the maritime transportation is more pollutant and less productive in Iran in comparison with the air transportation. Originality/value – The policymakers are advised to improve the infrastructure of maritime transportation from both the environmental and economic point of views. Consequently, the air transportation is considered as a cleaner and more beneficial transportation m

Inequality of Health Spending and Public Health Outcome in Countries of the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO)

Introduction: There are little attention about health spending and public health outcomes especially in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region. This  paper  presents  an  overview  on  health  spending  and  public health  outcomes  in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean countries during 1995-2011. Methods: This study conducted in 2013 use of health expenditure and public health outcome of 19 WHOs Eastern Mediterranean Region countries during 17 years (1995-2011). Data were including: Per capita health expenditure in current US dollar, Life expectancy at birth, Infant Mortality Rate per 1,000 live births, Under-5 years Mortality Rate per 1,000 live births. Data collected from the latest World Bank published data until 2013. The Descriptive statistics were used to study by using Excel 2007. Results: In this region, the minimum spending on health (by Pakistan) was about 60 times less than maximum spending (by Qatar). Maximum amount of infant and children mortality rate were respectively 9 and 10 times more than the minimum. Also a decreasing returns to scale of health spending seen between countries. So that countries with better public health status need to pay much more than countries with poor public health status to increase 1 year life expectancy or to save 1 infant or child from premature death. Conclusion: There is a large inequality among countries of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region in both health spending and public health outcomes. Due to a decreasing return to scale, allocation financial aids to countries with poor health status can help converging health status in the region and decrease inequalities

The Urban-Outskirt Difference in Subjective Well-being Level among Tehran and Rasht Dwellers as Iranian Metropolises. Are Tehran Dwellers more Satisfied?

Background: Along with general health and economic indices, policymakers are more dealing with the subjective well-being (SWB) of society as a criterion to evaluate their performance. Also, the increasing number of articles published in mainstream health economics journals approves that the importance of SWB is increasing. The aim of the study was to investigate the urban-outskirt difference in subjective well-being level among Tehran and Rasht dwellers as Iranian metropolises.  Methods: The analysis of the study is based on a structured interview that has been carried out by a designed questionnaire with 451 people living in Tehran and Rasht selected by the stratified two-stage cluster sampling method in 2018. One of these study innovations is defining the relative SWB index, a proxy for SWB and happiness. As the second main contribution, we try to overcome data unreliability about income and wealth by defining a specific index for identifying the financial status of interviewees. A series of statistical techniques like Ordered Probit were used.  Results: According to the results, the city dwellers have higher life satisfaction (5.23 out of 7) than outskirt dwellers (5.05) while keeping the other factors to be constant. Also, People who live in Rasht had a lower level of SWB (5.06) than Tehran dwellers (5.22). The impact of religious belief is positive on the SWB level. Conclusions: It is for several years that international reports show that Iranian people are not at a proper level of happiness. Having more financial satisfaction, and feeling more positive emotions should be considered across society. Besides, being the landlord has a statistically significant positive effect on city dwellers’ SWB. Keywords: Self-Assessments, Happiness, Urban Population, Personal Satisfaction