Investigating the Economic Function of the Pahlavi Foundation

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi founded the Pahlavi Foundation in 1957. During the twenty years of activity (1957-1979), the Foundation was apparently a charitable organization that was investing in economics only for financing Shah’s charitable purposes. But it was actually an economic organization that was investing extensively in various economic areas. Researches, so far, have introduced the reason for these investments the accumulation of wealth by the Shah through the Foundation's charity appearance.
This research, using descriptive-analytical method and documentary and library resources, showed except for the reason mentioned above, Shah has intended to intervene, guide and reinforce the policy of economic and industrial development through the Foundation. The policy, which starts from the second half of the 1950s, was between Shah and Pahlavi economic policymakers which emphasized the rapid economic and industrial development. The present research has investigated how and why the Shah intervened in this policy through the Foundation; in this paper, this intervention is named the "economic function" of the Pahlavi Foundation.
The main question of this article is this: except financial factor (accumulation of wealth), what factor explains the Pahlavi Foundation's extensive investments and activities in the economic fields? Based on the findings of this research, Shah has exploited the Pahlavi Foundation as a tool for the realization of ambitious programs, and strengthening and supports his government’s economic policies in fields of banking, industry, maritime commerce, tourism and housing in the 1960s and 1970s.