فصلنامه پژوهش ها و سیاست های اقتصادی
پیاپی 112 (زمستان 1403)

Enhancing the independence of the monetary authorities to mitigate inflationary bias is seen as a crucial political decision. Many countries, by adopting this approach, have assured their economies that controlling inflation and achieving macroeconomic stability are binding constraints for political authorities. Some countries enshrine such independence in their constitution, others through legislation related to the central bank, while some adhere to it in practice without any legal mandate. With the introduction of the new Central Bank Act, questions arise about whether this principle has been upheld. This study employs prominent independence measurement indicators, namely the Cukierman Index and the Grilli Index, to assess the Central Bank's independence under both the Monetary and Banking Act and the new Central Bank Act, as well as to compare it with other countries’ central banks’ independence. The results indicate that, compared to the Monetary and Banking Act, the new Central Bank Act has increased the Central Bank's independence by 16.6% based on the Grilli Index and by approximately 7% based on the Cukierman Index. However, despite these improvements, the legal independence of the Central Bank under the new act remains within the lowest 25% globally.

Taxes are one of the most important sources of government revenue, which has received increasing attention in the country's economy in recent years. Important sources of taxation are VAT and payroll taxes, which play a major role in raising tax revenues. Therefore, the present paper tries to examine the effects of increasing the VAT and payroll tax rates on Iran's economic growth. The Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is used to analyze the effects of these tax policies. The main source of data is the latest Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) provided by the Central Bank of Iran. Policy analysis is done based on three scenarios: 5%, 10%, and 15% increase in VAT and payroll tax rates. The results show that increasing the VAT rate increases economic growth, but an increase in the payroll tax rate will lead to a reduction in economic growth. On the other hand, as the rate of both taxes increases, government revenue increases, but the increase in VAT revenue is far greater than payroll tax revenue. Therefore, in general, an increasing the VAT rate takes precedence over the payroll tax rate. Also, the results of sensitivity analysis indicate the high accuracy of the research model and the reliability of the results of policy analysis.

The main focus of behavioral finance studies compliant with Shariah principles is focused on analyzing the behavior of investors and customers when faced with financial decisions, engaging the stock market, and using other products and technologies compliant with Shariah. The purpose of this research is to examine the compliance of Iran's banking system with Islamic Sharia, as well as to investigate the factors affecting the behavior of consumers and the role of demographic factors in determining the behavior of individuals towards adopting the financial system aligned with Shariah. According to the goals and questions in this research, a variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) approach has been used. The statistical population includes 389 bank customers in Tehran. The results of the research show that variables such as non-compliance with Sharia, awareness, organizational perception, and collectivism significantly influence improving the attitude and thus indirectly fostering a positive decision to adopt Islamic banking. Also, factors such as bank interest rates, gender, type and price of services, and educational level significantly impact customers' investment in banking. In contrast, age and job variables are found to be statistically insignificant and ineffective in this context. To ensure the success of Shariah-compliant banks in fulfilling their intended role, it is necessary to provide a framework that encourages active participation at both micro and macro levels. In this regard, the importance of cultural development in Islamic banking training, strengthening Sharia supervision, amending regulations, clarifying banking activities, and ranking banks based on Islamic principles can be emphasized to ensure that the banking system genuinely adheres to Islamic principles.

One of the fundamental problems of countries is poverty and economic inequality. Income distribution in economics plays an important role in analyzing these inequalities. Investigating economic inequalities in the country's provinces is of great importance from the perspective of regional planning. The main purpose of this article is to conduct statistical studies on income inequality indicators in the country's provinces. This research has been conducted in a descriptive and analytical manner. The data used were extracted from the urban and rural household income and expenditure survey in 2019 and 2020. In order to rank the provinces, the data was analyzed separately for urban and rural areas and the results were presented in a comparative manner. The results of this study show that provinces such as Sistan and Baluchestan, North Khorasan, Kerman, and South Khorasan have a low rank in terms of average income and expenditure, which in a way reflects the deprivations in these provinces of income-generating and job opportunities. In contrast, the provinces of Tehran, Alborz, Mazandaran, and Bushehr are known as the provinces with the highest income and expenditure in the country. Based on the results obtained, suggestions have been made for policymakers to develop special development programs to reduce economic inequalities in deprived provinces.

This study aims to identify the key and leading sectors of Alborz Province as a tool for fostering production and employment development. The input-output table, one of the most effective tools for analyzing economic structures, has been used to determine intersectoral linkages. Due to statistical limitations at the provincial level, this research utilized the non-statistical MFLQ method and calculated the input-output table of Alborz Province based on the latest national table from 1395. The results indicate that the industrial sector has been identified as the leading sector of Alborz Province. This sector, due to its strong linkages with other economic sectors, has the most significant impact on the province's production and employment. Moreover, six subsectors, namely "paper production and paper products, printing, and reproduction of recorded media," "rubber and plastic products manufacturing," "fabricated metal products manufacturing, excluding machinery and equipment," "electrical equipment manufacturing," "motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers manufacturing," and "other manufactured products," have been identified as the leading subsectors in Alborz Province's industry. Based on these findings, the following policy recommendations are proposed: developing industrial infrastructure, providing targeted support for leading industries, and enhancing export capacities. These actions can play a significant role in improving productivity and achieving sustainable economic growth in the province.

Given the high volume of transactions in the digital economy, this area can be considered as one of the tax bases for generating revenue for the government. Therefore, planning for tax collection from this area is necessary in Iran. Currently, there are many challenges in the field of tax collection, identifying which is the first step towards planning and optimal use of this revenue capacity. This article aims to identify tax challenges related to the specific characteristics of the digital economy, and especially cryptocurrencies. First, using the meta-synthesis method, the general challenges related to the nature of the digital economy were identified, and then using semi-structured interviews with 16 experts from the country's Tax Affairs Organization, the challenges related to cryptocurrencies were identified. After identifying the challenges, these factors were classified into four categories based on the criteria of importance and urgency: critical challenges, strategic challenges, urgent but low-impact challenges, and challenges that can be ignored for the time being. Accordingly, the main tax challenges in the field of cryptocurrencies include the lack of adequate regulations, problems with transaction tracking, lack of technical infrastructure, and lack of access to sufficient data. The implementation priorities of policies and suggestions for improving these issues are detailed in the article.