A Meta-Analysis of Inequality in Regional Development Programs

Since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, five development programs have been implemented and from the third one, the focus has been on regional development which has been the subject of numerous studies in recent years. The present study, which is a qualitative meta-analysis, tries to examine the studies on the inequality of development programs in the regions of the country and at the same time to give a process description of the results obtained from them. An examination of 19 papers conducted between 2006 and 2015 shows that there is a significant repetition in the methods, foundations and results, and the overlap of the indicators, despite the differences in the method, has led to the closeness of the results.  We are also considering   significant gaps in the development levels of the provinces. It is noteworthy that the results show minimal displacements among a limited number of provinces in the last three decades and gradually show a stabilized pattern that, while indicating the stagnation of inequality, confirms the central-peripheral pattern of development indicators in the provinces.