فصلنامه پژوهش های اقتصادی ایران
پیاپی 97 (زمستان 1402)

The utilization of natural resources, particularly energy, is essential for economic well-being. However, the increasing consumption of economic resources raises concerns about sustainable development. This study aimed to investigate the dynamic decoupling of economic growth, energy consumption, and pollution in Iran from 2000 to 2020, employing the method proposed by Tapio (2005) and factor analysis on three levels of energy consumption (i.e., primary, final, and useful). The findings revealed that economic growth is often associated with negative decoupling, with this negative decoupling being more pronounced in useful and final energies compared to primary energy. Decomposing energy consumption further confirmed negative decoupling in various energy components. Additionally, the study confirmed weak decoupling between energy consumption and pollution (CO2 emissions), with stronger negative decoupling observed at lower energy levels. Furthermore, the decoupling of economic growth and pollution closely mirrors the decoupling of economic growth and energy consumption. The negative decoupling can be attributed to the inefficiency in energy consumption, limited access to new technologies, and the lack of appropriate structures due to the absence of a specific strategy for sustainable development. The research recommends the prioritization of energy efficiency across different energy levels as well as the investment in infrastructure and energy technology.

Over the past half-century, the impact of the prisoner’s dilemma has transcended its initial boundaries, influencing a broad spectrum of institutional studies and analyses of interdependent systems, such as collective action, public goods, governance of the commons, social norms, and social capital. Given this extensive influence, the latent fundamental flaws in this model can lead to misleading result for researchers and policymakers. As a descriptive–analytical research, the present study employed evolutionary game theory to examine the shortcomings of the iterative and evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma. It went on to introduce an alternative framework to explain the emergence and transformation of institutions. The critical discussion highlighted fundamental deficiencies of the prisoner’s dilemma manifested in four distinct levels of institutional analysis: the definition of institutions, identification of their function, explanation of their emergence, and description of their transformations. Consequently, the model is not capable of explaining institutional issues mentioned above. Addressing the role of uncertainty and considering the impact of small-world networks on payoff distribution, the second part of the study used a semi-parametric stag hunt matrix to model the cooperation problem. The results indicated that the non-spontaneous overlap between strong and weak ties can accumulate synergistic flows between content and structure, creating an environment conducive to institutionalizing capacity for achieving public goods on a large scale. Therefore, the process of overcoming social traps begins not with the punitive rules proposed by the prisoner’s dilemma, but with synergetic institutions that enhance the opportunity to discover common interests.

The paper aims to reassess “the Coase Theorem” in its historical context and highlight the discernible gap between the Coase Theorem and the often-overlooked arguments articulated by Coase. In “the Problem of Social Costs”, Ronald Coase intended to emphasis on the irrelevance of Pigou's argument in dealing with externalities. The theorem implies that in a world with zero-transaction cost, external effects are internalized without government intervention and the allocation of legal rights does not matter. These implications have led observers to criticize the theorem, notwithstanding the accurate scrutiny reveals that almost all of the critiques center around the main assumption of the theorem – namely, zero transaction costs- rather than the theorem itself. While the correctness of the theorem heavily depends on the concept of “transaction costs”, the concept suffers from a lack of clear definition. It is important to note, in that paper, Coase intended to argue that Pigou's analysis in “the Economics of Welfare” is irrelevant, and in a zero-transaction cost world, market forces internalize externalities, and government intervention is not needed. In contrast, when positive transaction cost is considered the allocation of legal rights and liabilities becomes important. This latter point has been almost ignored in the literature and entailed that the Coase theorem is an unrealistic one.

Human demand for natural resources is surpassing the Earth’s biocapacity and regenerative capacity, leading to environmental degradation. Accurate research is essential to investigate and predict these changes more precisely. The ecological footprint serves as a suitable index for tracking human demand, resource recovery capacity, and waste absorption in the environment. The concept aims to offer a land-based measure that estimates the impact of consumption on the environment in the land area required to fulfill consumption. The dynamic input–output approach represents a novel method for measuring the ecological footprint, predicting land use based on economic growth rates. Pioneering the dynamic ecological footprint calculation using real-world data, the current study calculated Iran’s ecological footprint by relying on 1395/2016 input-output tables from the Central Bank in three sectors: agriculture, industry, and services. The per-capita ecological footprint for Iran was determined to be 0.42 hectares with an 8% planned economic growth rate. If the ecological footprint continues to grow at the same rate, it is estimated that Iran’s land biocapacity will be depleted by the year 1412/2033. Considering a growth rate of 6.4% (excluding oil) in the year 1395/2016, this scenario is anticipated to occur by the year 1417/2038.

The present study aimed to examine the transfer, reception, and the spillover of volatility from March 1982 to September 2022, using the time-varying parameter vector autoregression model based on Barunik-Krehlik (TV-VAR-BK) with monthly frequency. The results indicated that the primary relationship among the volatility of the analyzed variables is of long-term nature, with the exchange rate emerging as the dominant factor in explaining the volatility of the examined network. In the short term, liquidity serves as the primary transmitter of volatility to inflation and the exchange rate. However, in the medium and long term, the exchange rate becomes the primary transmitter of volatility to inflation, while liquidity acts as the net receiver of currency volatility. Additionally, the long-term impact of the exchange rate is more pronounced. Failure to control currency volatility can lead to inflation turbulence by transferring volatility to liquidity, underscoring the significance of exchange rate stability in managing liquidity and inflation.

The present study aimed to develop a model for determining an optimal bidding strategy for electricity producers, including the recommended selling price and the amount of electricity to be offered for participation in both the competitive electricity market and the energy exchange market. Hourly bids are suggested for the electricity market, while a monthly package, comprising peak load, medium load, low load, and base load, is proposed for the exchange market. By modeling a self-scheduling problem, the study aimed to develop optimal power production plans that maximize net profit over a one-month period. The research approach involved mathematical modeling using mixed-integer non-linear programming, which was performed in Lingo software and then validated in terms of effectiveness through an application to the case of a thermal power station. Relying on fuzzy necessity, credibility, and possibility, the research presented a robust model against the uncertainty of price with an adjustable level of robustness. Sensitivity analysis and the simulation approach were used to validate the performance of the model, demonstrating that the optimal response from the robust model, compared to the deterministic model, can maintain its efficiency in the face of fluctuations in the parameter of price uncertainty. Furthermore, the findings indicated that offering a base load package on the energy exchange market can yield a higher net profit value for the producer. Finally, the fuzzy interest rate and decision-making based on fuzzy goals were also examined.

The present study aimed to explore the impact of banking crisis on income distribution among various income classes in 60 world countries during 1990–2020. In this line, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) was used to estimate the six models with different dependent variables that depicted income percentiles for the wealthy, middle, and poor classes. The findings indicated that during a banking crisis, the income share of the wealthy class decreases, while the middle class and the bottom 20% experience an increase in their income share. Consequently, banking crisis could contribute to income equality in the countries under study. In addition to the variable of banking crisis, other variables such as financial development and financial openness could lead to income inequality, while the variables like the ratio of public expenditure to GDP, trade openness, GDP, and GDP squared would cause income distribution equality in the countries. The results suggest that governments support lower-income percentiles through subsidies, support packages, more job opportunities, and provision of low-interest loans, in a bid to mitigate the detrimental effects of banking crisis and reduce income inequality. Furthermore, governments should levy taxes, such as capital gains tax, on higher-income percentiles.