An Evaluation of Asymmetric and Symmetric Effects of Oil Exports Shocks on Non-Tradable Sector of Iranian Economy

This study analyzes the relationship between changes in crude oil exports and nontradable and tradable sections to investigate Dutch Disease syndrome in Iran by applying a rolling linear regression and a VAR approach. We find a co-movement of oil exports with construction and service variables from the rolling regression. The non-linear model reveals that oil exports movements cause asymmetric reaction of construction, service and other variables under study. The variance decomposition shows that crude oil exports contribute to the variability of the key variables. We find a strong relationship between oil exports changes and tradable sector. Decreases in oil exports appear to play a greater role in construction variation than oil exports increases. For variable of service, positive oil shock plays a considerable role as a source of variable fluctuations. Moreover, we observe Dutch Disease through reactions of key variables to oil exports changes.non-tradable sector, Dutch Disease, oil shocks, rolling regression, VAR

Functions of Fate Schema: The Case of Persian and English

With an aim to contribute to the present knowledge of intercultural communications, this study explores the cultural schemas of ghesmat and fate in Persian and English societies. Particularly, it tries to demonstrate how comparable these two cultural schemas are across the speakers of the two speech communities. Data were collected by triangulation, through ethnographic observations, movies, and websites. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. To perform a quantitative analysis the frequency of the schema of fate and ghesmat in different situations in English and Persian was calculated. Furthermore, to find out the underlying themes of the schemas activation a qualitative content analysis and Wierzbicka’s semantic analysis were employed. The findings further improve the cultural knowledge involved in intercultural communications and discuss the sociocultural roles of ghesmat and fate cultural schemas in the speech communities.Key words: Schema; Cultural Schema; Ghesmat; Fate; Cultural Keywords; Intercultural Communication Resumé: Dans le but de contribuer à la connaissance actuelle des communications interculturelles, cette étude explore les schémas culturels de ghesmat et le destin dans les sociétés persane et anglaise. En particulier, il essaie de montrer à quel point ces deux schémas culturels sont comparables à travers les locuteurs de ces deux communautés linguistiques. Les données ont été recueillies par une triangulation, c'est-à-dire à travers des observations ethnographiques, des films et des sites web. Les données recueillies ont été analysées qualitativement et quantitativement. Pour effectuer une analyse quantitative, la fréquence du schéma du destin et de ghesmat dans de différentes situations en anglais et en persan a été calculée. D'ailleurs, afin de trouver des thèmes sous-jacents de l'activation des schémas, une analyse qualitative de contenu et l'analyse sémantique de Wierzbicka ont été employées. Les résultats améliorent davantage les connaissances culturelles impliquées dans les communications interculturelles et discutent des rôles socioculturels de ghesmat et des schémas de destin culturels dans les communautés de la parole. Mots-clés: Schéma; Schéma Culturel; Ghesmat; Destin; Mots-Clés Culturels; Communication Interculturell

The effect of cultural adaptation on EFL reading comprehension: the role of narrative nativization and foreign language attitude

This study examined the effect of cultural background knowledge on reading comprehension at inference and literal levels which was gained through reading an American short story that depicted either culturally familiar (nativized) or culturally unfamiliar (original) versions of the story. Subjects were intermediate level EFL learners studying English at a language institute in Iran. They answered true/false and multiple choice comprehension questions aimed at measuring the inference and literal comprehension over two versions of the story. They then completed a general attitude questionnaire showing their views toward nativization of short stories. Results revealed significant effect of cultural familiarity on inference and literal reading comprehension as well as negative attitude of Persian EFL learners toward nativized stories. Possible explanations are provided and the implications for the paradigm of English as an International Language are discussed

The Automatic Stabilization Effect of Fiscal Policy on Business Cycle in Selected OPEC Member Countries

Although there are numerous studies in the literature that look at the theoretical effects of automatic stabilizers and their efficiency, few of them present empirical evidence. This paper conducts an empirical study on the effects of fiscal policy as an automatic stabilizer. In the first part of this paper we attempt to study the cyclicality of fiscal policy and for this purpose, the method of panel data is applied to 8 OPEC member countries for the period of 1976-2009. The results show that the fiscal policy for the selected countries is counter-cyclical. The main purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between fiscal policy (measured by government expenditures, tax revenues and transfers) and fluctuations of economy during business cycles (measured by GDP, private GDP and consumption) among 8 OPEC member countries by applying panel data approach for the period 1976-2005. The results show that there is a strong and negative correlation between tax revenues (relative to GDP) and fluctuations of output. This paper also show that government expenditures (relative to GDP) are positively correlated with the fluctuations of output. The results indicate that tax revenues, as an efficient fiscal policy tool, help to smooth the fluctuations of output. On the other hand, the results show that government expenditures increase the fluctuations of output. Furthermore, we check for the robustness of our results by introducing a list of control variables (openness, GDP, GDP per capita and GDP growth) and introducing these variables into our model does not affect our main results. So, this observation supports the idea that in countries that are exposed to business cycles with more fluctuations, it is desirable to increase tax revenues (relative to GDP) by expanding tax base to help smooth these fluctuations

Feasibility of achieving net-zero energy performance in high-rise buildings using solar energy

As part of a broad strategy to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming, many countries are requiring all new buildings to have net-zero energy use. This requires that on-site energy use not exceed on-site generation of renewable energy (taken here to be solar energy), or equivalently, that the building Energy Use Intensity (EUI, kWh/m2a) not exceed the supply of on-site solar energy (electricity and heat) per m2 of floor area per year. On this basis, we find that achieving net-zero energy performance in an archetype 40-story square building in 16 different cities of North America requires EUI of 17–24 kWh/m2a using PV panels, and 19–28 kWh/m2a using PVT collectors. Changing building orientation to a non-square floor shape can improve maximum permitted EUI by up to 50% in PV and 60% in PVT case. Conversely, the best-performing residential and commercial buildings have EUIs of 50–75 kWh/m2a. Only if building heights are limited to 5–10 floors does the available solar energy, and thus the permitted EUI, reach 50–75 kWh/m2a. Therefore, we recommend that policymakers not require high-rise buildings to be net-zero energy, unless they are prepared to limit building heights to 5–10 floors