An Institutional Explanation of Regional Imbalance in Iran

After implementing various development strategies in different countries, a problem raised that prevent continuity of process. The problem which is known as imbalanced development refers to differential in development level among regions and has been targeting to be reduced by policy makers. The Iranian economy has always faced this problem over the past decades, and this phenomenon has created major obstacles to development policies in Iran. But through a scientific explanation, successful policies would be expected. Since such explanation provides the way of managing the problem by clarifying the main elements. Besides, it should be noted that scientific explanation is based on a theory. Accordingly, this paper attempts to explain this phenomenon in the theoretical framework of institutionalism after presenting an image of the regional imbalance phenomenon in Iran. It concludes that institutional capacity (institutional thickness) is one of the key elements of the mentioned problem.