Pro-Poor Growth in the Urban Areas of Iran's Provinces

Poverty is one of the major problems of human societies that causes many social harms. Therefore, policymakers and economic development planners always aim to eliminate it. In addition, economic growth is one of the important and influential variables of macroeconomics. Therefore, examining the impact of economic growth on poverty through the lens of growth and distribution effects offers valuable insights for policymaking and poverty reduction strategies. In this study, we use the log-normal curve approach introduced by Bourguignon to estimate the growth effect on poverty utilizing data from urban households in Iran over the period 2013-2019. The results indicate that only in the one-year period of 2015-2016, the triangle of poverty, growth, and inequality has worked well and the growth has been pro-poor. Furthermore, provincial-level findings unveil discernible patterns: (a) In provinces experiencing positive growth, urban areas in Qom exhibit pro-poor growth, while those in Alborz, Golestan, and Hamedan provinces observe a trickle-down effect. Meanwhile, in other provinces, growth demonstrates an immiserizing trend. (b) In provinces with negative growth, only urban areas in Markazi province observe a reduction in poverty. However, due to the lack of growth, it cannot be concluded that this province has had pro-poor growth. In the urban areas of other provinces in this group, the situation has been unfavourable for the poor

Iran Banking Industry Foresight with Emphasis on the Role of Emerging Financial Technologies in the 2025 Horizon

Today, in the age of digital developments, financial technologies (fintechs) have become an integral part of the banking industry. These technologies have challenged the future of the banking industry. So the purpose of this study is to identify the future scenarios of the banking industry and fintech startups in Iran, on 1404 horizon. The research is applied according to the type of purpose and exploratory from the methodological point of view. By using purposive sampling and theoretical saturation, 17 interviews were done with co-founders of fintech startups and managers and experts in banking and Fintech industry. In the first step, using interview analysis and background review, 38 drivers influencing the future of the banking and fintech industry were identified. Among the mentioned drivers, 4 key uncertainties were identified using a combination of the results of two methods: structural analysis and instantaneous Delphi. By plotting two possible scenarios for each of them in the future, 16 possible scenarios were obtained. In the meantime, some scenarios were omitted due to similarity and incompatibility to other scenarios. Based on the morphological analysis, out of 16 possible scenarios, 5 scenarios remained and the other scenarios were eliminated. Thus five scenarios include; "The paradise of fintechs in the banking system", "migration of fintechs”, "crucified fintechs", "resistance fintechs" and "creeping fintechs" were identified, which according to the experts, the scenario paradise of fintechs In the banking system was introduced as a favorable scenario in the horizon of 1404

Investigating the effects of government debt components to commercial banks on liquidity components in Iran

The government's debt to commercial banks can have an effect on the monetary base and liquidity through the effect on the balance sheet of commercial banks and through the balance sheet of the central bank. In Iran's economy, despite the growth of 32.6 and 19.9 percent of public sector debt to commercial banks in 2017 and 2018, which was accompanied by 22.1 and 23.1 percent growth of liquidity, it is formed by examining the components of this hypothesis that the components Government debt to commercial banks can affect liquidity and its components. The data used in this study include the monetary base, liquidity, money, quasi-money, economic growth rate, inflation rate, government debt to commercial banks and government companies and institutions debt to commercial banks, which are from the official statistics of the Central Bank of Iran for the period They were taken in 1998-2020. In this research, it has been tried to investigate and evaluate the effects of government debt to commercial banks on the components of Iran's liquidity by using the method of non-linear regression model with distribution breaks (NARDL). The results show that the shocks of the government's debt to commercial banks in the long and short term have a symmetrical effect on the basis of money, money, liquidity and quasi-money; In addition, the shocks of the government and government institutions' debt to commercial banks also have an asymmetric effect on the dependent variables

Comparing the Cost-Effectiveness of Conventional Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Systems and Stabilization Ponds (Case Study: Refineries of Kermanshah, Islamabad West and Gilangharb)

Background & Objectives: The economic feasibility of wastewater treatment plants requires applying some methods with ability to assess the cost-effectiveness of their systems. This study aimed to determine and compare the cost-effectiveness of two types of wastewater treatment systems which are used in Kermanshah province. Materials & Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study in which the information on the wastewater treatment plants were collected from water and wastewater companies and wastewater treatment plants operators, and the data were analyzed statistically using the SPSS software program. All costs, efficiency of treatment processes, and their cost-effectiveness index was calculated for existing systems and they were compared in terms of this ratio. Results: The results showed that, in activated sludge and natural systems, the average total efficiency, which is the result of mean removal of total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand, were respectively 76.37±18.19 and 61.69±19.02. Also the results showed that the difference between the efficiencies of two systems was significant. The cost-effectiveness of activated sludge and natural systems were respectively obtained as 0.23 and 0.58. Conclusions: According to the results, we can say that, despite the lower efficiency, natural systems are better than activated sludge systems and have better cost-effectiveness for wastewater treatment. These results indicates the natural systems is more successful in term of cost-effectiveness, and the most important factor in this success can be attributed to lower required investments and lower maintenance costs, compared to activated sludge systems

On-farm Energy Use (Case of Dire County, Kermanshah Province)

This paper focuses on the amount of diesel consumption as one of the non-renewable energy sources consumed by the agricultural machinery and water pumps in wheat and corn farms in Dire County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. The population of the study was determined by Bartlett et al . (2001) ’stable. Stratified random sampling method and census was used for the selection of respondents. The sample was composed of 247 wheat growers, 235 corn growers, and 57 tractor drivers selected by Bartlett et al .(2001) ’stable. Combine drivers as well as farm irrigation diesel owners were selected by census (n=15, n=48, respectively). The data collection tool was a questionnaire and the data were analyzed by SPSS software package. The findings revealed that in wheat farms, soil preparation had the highest consumption of diesel by 49% and in corn farms inter culturing had the highest diesel consumption by 38%. Moreover, the amount of diesel consumed in 3600 ha wheat and a corn farm in Dire County was 403,852.6 lit/year equivalent to 15,346,399 MJ. Burning this amount of diesel produces about 1, 058,094 kg CO 2 /year. Overall, farm machinery, water pumping and irrigation for two major crops in the county are extremely reliant on nonrenewable fossil fuel resulting in large amount of CO 2 emission. Hence, an aggressive and innovative policy is required to restructure and redesign energy system in agriculture sector at national and local levels. Finally, it seems that paradigm shift to sustainable agriculture and development of clean and renewable energy in Iran's agricultural sector is unavoidable

The Role of Cooperatives in Transaction Costs Reduction of Agricultural Enterprises Regarding Potato Farms in the Qurveh Township

Transaction costs of agricultural enterprises are an affective factor on product cost price, net exchange price and farmer’s participation in market. The aim of this survey research was to examine the role of agricultural cooperatives in reducing the transaction costs of Potato production enterprises in Qurveh Township. The sample size (351) was obtained by Bartlet Table and the sampling method was Multistage Cluster. For data collection questioners have been used which its validity was verified by viewpoints of panel of experts and reliability by Tests-Retest. The results showed that farmers cooperative members are facing with lower transaction costs(41%) and their participation in markets outside the province have increased significantly. the  variable of membership in the cooperatives could be entered in the Probit model to estimate the farmers participation in relevant market. On the other hand, transaction costs included the cost of information and measurement, significantly entered in the Logit model to estimate the membership of farmers in the cooperatives. Also, index of relations network, cost price and transaction volume were entered into the model

Comparison of the Cost-effectiveness of Activated Sludge Systems with Natural Wastewater Treatment Systems in Kermanshah Province

To determine the economic feasibility of wastewater treatment plants requires methods to determine their cost/effectiveness ratio. The objective of the present descriptive analytical study was to determine and compare the cost/effectiveness ratios of two types of wastewater treatment systems operating in Kermanshah Province. For this purpose, data and information on the wastewater treatment plants under study were collected from both local water and sewage companies and treatment plant operators. The data were then subjected to statistical analysis using the SPSS software program. All the costs assoiated with the erection and operation of the treatment processes were analyzed and plant efficiencies were determined to work out the cost/effectiveness index for each plant as a basis for comparisons. Average values of overall efficiency determined from the mean values of total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand, and chemical oxygen demand removals in both activated sludge and natural systems were found to be 76.37±18.19% and 61.69±19.0%2, respectively. Also, the two systems were found to be significantly different with respect to their overall efficiency. Moreover, the cost/effectiveness ratios obtained for the two activated sludge and natural systems were 0.23 and 0.58, respectively. Based on the results obtained, it may be claimed that, despite their lower efficiency, natural treatment systems outperform activated sludge ones due to their higher cost/effectiveness ratio, which makes them superior to the activated sludge process. Natural treatment systems owe their superiority to their lower investment, operation, and maintenance costs