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Showing 344 results for Type of Study: Applicable
Studying the Impact of Trade Liberalization Policy on Energy Balance in Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member Countries (Regional Computable General Equilibrium Model Approach)
Hamid Ghasemian, Abdolhamid Moarefi Mohammadi, Mohammadreza Heidari Khorasgani, Alimorad Sharifi,
Volume 16, Issue 59 (5-2025)
Abstract
Introduction
The growing energy imbalances in the country, which are caused by the higher growth rate of demand and consumption than supply and production, have made the need for planning to solve energy problems more evident than ever before. Undoubtedly, the continuation of the increasing trend of energy imbalances in the country's key carriers will cause economic, social and security effects and consequences. On the other hand, according to economic theories, trade liberalization increases efficiency, economies of scale, improves competition, improves the productivity of production factors and increases trade flows, and ultimately leads to economic growth. On the other hand, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has great capacities in the energy sector (with about a quarter of the world's population, it controls 23% of oil, 55% of natural gas and 35% of the world's coal). Undoubtedly, the accession of observer countries, especially Iran, will increase the potential and capacities of this organization. Therefore, in this study, the impact of trade tariff reduction between Iran and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on the balance of various energy types in Iran was scenario-based.

Method
No study has analyzed the impact of trade liberalization policy between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries on the energy balance in Iran, and this study addresses this issue by using the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Also, among the computable general equilibrium models, the multi-regional general equilibrium model is specifically designed for analyzing world trade and can conduct research and studies on the international flow of goods and services and factors of production in a dynamic and static manner. Using a multi-regional general equilibrium model instead of a single-regional general equilibrium model has several advantages. One of the strengths of these models is their ability to help understand the relationship between sectors, countries, and factors of production on a global scale. Among the multi-regional general equilibrium models, the Energy-Based World Trade Analysis Project model provides diverse possibilities for world trade and energy-related research.
This study examines the impact of reducing trade tariffs between Iran and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization under scenarios of -25%, -50% and -100% on the balance of various energy sources in Iran, including crude oil and petroleum products, natural gas, coal and electricity. For this purpose, the necessary data were extracted from the Global Trade Analysis Project for Energy-Based (GTAP-E) version 10 database, which includes the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of 141 countries or regions and 65 sectors. Finally, the data were analyzed using MATLAB software.

Results and Discussion
The results showed that reducing trade tariffs between Iran and other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, on the one hand, due to the ease of exporting energy carriers (especially crude oil and petroleum products) and on the other hand, due to the increased use of fossil energy exploration, production, and distribution technologies (especially crude oil and petroleum products, natural gas, and coal), leads to a decrease in fossil energy consumption and an increase in the net balance of fossil energy in Iran. In addition, the reduction of trade tariffs between Iran and other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, due to the possibility of increasing imports of goods and equipment that consume less energy needed in various domestic, industrial (light and heavy industries), transportation and agricultural sectors (tractors, combines, etc.), as well as increasing cooperation in the development of renewable energy technologies, will lead to an increase in the consumption of renewable energies and a decrease in the consumption of the energy carriers under consideration (especially electricity), and ultimately an increase in their net energy balance in Iran.
 
Economic Policy Uncertainty and Inflation in Iran with Wavelet Machine Learning Approach and Wavelet Quantile Causality
Ali Moridian, Hassan Heidari, Seyed Mehdi Hosseini, Heshmatollah Asgari,
Volume 16, Issue 60 (9-2026)
Abstract
Objective: This study examines the effects of economic policy uncertainty, exchange rate, and oil price on inflation in Iran during the period 2008 to 2023. The main objective is to identify the short-term, medium-term, and long-term nature of these effects and analyze inflation dynamics using modern wavelet and machine learning methods.
Materials and Methods: Regularized least squares regression with wavelet kernel (WKRLS) and nonparametric wavelet quantile causality (WNQC) are used to analyze nonlinear and scale-dependent relationships between variables. The data include inflation index, economic policy uncertainty (EPU), unofficial exchange rate, and oil price on a monthly basis. The generalized wavelet quantile Dickey-Fuller test (Wavelet-QADF) is also used to examine the stationarity of time series.
Results: The results show that key variables of the Iranian economy are stationary in most quantiles and time scales. According to WKRLS estimates, the effect of economic policy uncertainty on inflation is weak in the short run, decreasing but still significant in the medium run, and increasing non-linearly and acceleratingly in the long run. The exchange rate has the greatest impact on inflation, especially in the short run due to the Iranian economy’s heavy dependence on imports. Oil prices also have a significant impact on inflation and its volatility in the long run. WNQC findings show that economic policy uncertainty and exchange rate uncertainty have a stronger effect in the low and middle quantiles of inflation, while oil prices mainly amplify inflation fluctuations in the long run.
Conclusion: The findings emphasize the importance of stable economic policies, reducing dependence on oil revenues, and controlling exchange rate fluctuations for managing inflation in Iran. Also, combining wavelet and machine learning methods allows for a more comprehensive analysis of inflation dynamics in different conditions.
 
Assessing the Impact of Internet Access Satisfaction on Subjective Well-being Using a Discrete Choice Approach
Dr Akram Akbari, Dr Parviz Mohamadzadeh, Mr Hussein Ali Sheeaa,
Volume 16, Issue 60 (9-2026)
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Subjective well-being has become an increasingly important concept in welfare economics, happiness economics, and social policy analysis. Unlike objective welfare indicators such as income, employment, consumption, or access to public services, subjective well-being reflects how individuals evaluate and experience their own lives. In societies undergoing economic, institutional, and generational transitions, individuals’ assessment of their living conditions relative to their parents can provide a meaningful indicator of perceived progress or decline. Iraq represents an important context for such an analysis because the country has experienced economic uncertainty, institutional challenges, demographic pressures, and rapid digital transformation. In this setting, internet use may influence individuals’ perceived well-being by expanding access to information, learning opportunities, social networks, public services, and economic prospects. However, the relationship between internet use and subjective well-being is unlikely to be direct, linear, or uniform across all individuals.

Background and Innovation
The literature suggests that the welfare effects of internet use depend not only on access but also on the intensity, quality, and purpose of use. Internet use may improve well-being by reducing information costs, facilitating communication, supporting learning, and creating new opportunities. At the same time, it may generate adverse effects through social comparison, misinformation, excessive use, or passive consumption of digital content. Therefore, recent studies emphasize the importance of human capital and digital capability in shaping the welfare consequences of internet use. The main contribution of this study is threefold. First, it focuses on intergenerational relative subjective well-being, rather than conventional life satisfaction. Second, it distinguishes active internet use from mere access or satisfaction with access. Third, it examines whether education moderates the association between internet use and relative subjective well-being.

Aim and Method
The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between active internet use and intergenerational relative subjective well-being in Iraq, with particular emphasis on the moderating role of education. The dependent variable is an ordinal measure of respondents’ evaluation of their current living conditions compared with their parents’ generation. It takes three ordered categories: worse than parents, the same as parents, and better than parents. The empirical analysis uses micro-level data from the eighth wave of the Arab Barometer survey for Iraq. Given the ordinal nature of the dependent variable and the survey design of the data, the baseline specification is estimated using a survey-weighted ordered logit model. The model controls for age, age squared, gender, household size, urban residence, employment status, household income adequacy, evaluation of current economic conditions, expectations about future economic conditions, trust in government, and governorate fixed effects. To assess the robustness of the results, alternative specifications including ordered probit, different measures of internet use, marginal effects, and post-estimation diagnostics are also employed.

Findings
The results indicate that the direct association between internet use and intergenerational relative subjective well-being is not uniform across the population. In the baseline models, internet use alone does not show a strong and stable direct relationship with higher relative subjective well-being after controlling for individual, economic, institutional, and regional characteristics. However, the interaction between active internet use and higher education provides evidence of heterogeneous effects. Among individuals with higher education, active internet use is associated with a higher probability of reporting a “better than parents” status and a lower probability of reporting a “worse than parents” status. This finding suggests that education may enhance individuals’ ability to transform digital access and internet use into meaningful opportunities.
The results also show that household income adequacy, household size, evaluation of current economic conditions, expectations about future economic conditions, trust in government, age, and age squared are important correlates of intergenerational relative subjective well-being. Governorate fixed effects are jointly significant, indicating that regional differences within Iraq play an important role in explaining variations in perceived intergenerational well-being. The robustness checks further suggest that the relationship between digital engagement and subjective well-being should not be interpreted as a simple universal effect. Rather, the welfare implications of internet use depend on individuals’ human capital and their capacity to use digital resources effectively.
Overall, the findings imply that digital policy should move beyond expanding physical internet access alone. Policies aimed at improving subjective well-being through digital transformation should also promote digital literacy, purposeful internet use, skill formation, and the integration of educational and digital development strategies. In particular, strengthening human capital may allow individuals to benefit more effectively from online information, learning resources, communication networks, and economic opportunities.
The Impact of Government Size on Environmental Quality with an Emphasis on Income Inequality
Mrs. Masoumeh Mohammadifar, Dr. Saeed Karimi Potanlar, Dr. Saeed Rasekhi, Dr. Shahryar Zaroki,
Volume 16, Issue 60 (9-2026)
Abstract
Climate change and income inequality are intertwined challenges of sustainable development, yet empirical evidence on the role of government size in environmental quality remains inconclusive. Focusing on three carbon-based indicators, territorial carbon dioxide emissions, consumption-based carbon footprint, and production-based carbon footprint, this study examines the relationship between government size and environmental quality and investigates whether income inequality moderates the magnitude and direction of this relationship. Using panel data for 58 countries over the period 1994–2023, the model is estimated based on five-year averages and diagnostic-based estimators, including FGLS and random effects with country-clustered standard errors; PCSE is also reported as a robustness check for the territorial-emissions group. Income inequality is measured using four complementary indicators: pre-tax and post-tax Gini coefficients, the income ratio of the top 20 percent to the bottom 20 percent, and the tenth-to-first decile ratio. The results show that government size, at the average level of inequality, is associated with higher carbon-based indicators and, consequently, lower environmental quality; however, this relationship depends on the structure of income distribution, the type of carbon indicator, and the inequality measure used. The negative interaction terms indicate that income inequality weakens the positive association between government size and carbon-based indicators. The income-heterogeneity analysis for per capita carbon dioxide emissions further shows that this relationship is stronger in countries below the median income level. In addition, the estimated income coefficients are consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, although most observations remain on the upward-sloping segment of the curve. Overall, the findings suggest that improving environmental quality requires coordinating redistributive policies with a reorientation of public spending toward low-pollution sectors and low-carbon infrastructure.
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