The Struggle for Development in Iran

The Struggle for Development in Iran was published by Stanford University Press in May of 2022.  The book draws on the work of the Stanford Iran 2040 research project. 

This book provides a multidimensional analysis of Iran's struggle for development between 1970 and 2020, focusing on fundamentals, institutions, and socioeconomic trends. The past several decades in Iran have been a period of sluggish and noninclusive economic growth, ill-fated social engineering with an Islamic template, political repression, and extensive environmental degradation. The intellectual discourse surrounding the impediments of growth in Iran has been dominated by an exaggerated notion of the role of ideology, class struggles, imperialism, and historical contingencies, overlooking the profound impacts of institutions and fundamental socioeconomic trends.

This book aims to fill this gap using positive economics and data-driven analysis to cover a wide array of topics, such as governance, corruption, macroeconomy, population dynamics, labor, financial systems, energy, water scarcity, and food security. Illustrating clearly the complex interactions among different dimensions of Iran's development, this book will be essential for researchers, policy makers, and journalists.

The publication of this book was made possible in part by the Hamid & Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford University.

About the authors

Pooya Azadi is Manager of the Stanford Iran 2040 Project.

Mohsen B. Mesgaran is Assistant Professor at University of California, Davis.

Matin Mirramezani is Co-Founder of Generation Lab and an economics student at Stanford University.