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Pourghadiri, Bahram Esfahani (2012) Inequality and the rentier state: vertical and horizontal inequality patterns in Iran. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17359 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. INEQUALITY AND THE RENTIER STATE: VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL INEQUALITY PATTERNS IN IRAN BAHRAM ESFAHANI POURGHADIRI Draft submitted for the degree of PhD in Economics 2012 Department of Economics School of Oriental and African Studies University of London Declaration for PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________ 2 Abstract There is a paucity of literature addressing Iran’s consistently high income inequality rates during the past four decades. Available studies, after the 1979 Islamic revolution, typically combine poverty with inequality research but focus decidedly on the former. Perhaps, due to this poverty orientation, they seek inequality determinants within the pool of post- revolutionary government policy. This thesis however suggests a pre-revolutionary structural cause, rather than a post-revolutionary policy determinant, for the observed inequality. It contends that many of the income distribution patterns in Iran are related to the economy’s reliance on oil revenues, which overwhelm administrative efforts in reshaping national and regional income distribution. The study has wider theoretical implications by showing that rentier states reinforce patterns of income distribution. The period under empirical study (1997-2010) begins with the tenure of President Khatami’s first government and ends in the twilight years of President Ahmadinejad’s second administration. Annual household survey micro data is used to measure and present a number of income distribution findings which are brought together to build a picture of recent national and regional inequality trends using appropriate decomposition methodologies. In the main, the findings support the rentier notion of an urban bias and the existence of a rich elite whose fortunes mostly determine annual inequality fluctuations. Inter-regional and intra-regional inequalities are both high, with evidence of an increasing income gap between rural provinces. There is a growing gap between public sector and private sector headed households and a persistently high urban rural divide. Interestingly, regional inter-ethnic inequality is falling. At the end of the thesis, separate urban and rural wealth asset indices are created for Iran to mitigate the influence of short-term oil revenue shocks, which may affect money metric inequality measures. 3 Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 3 List of tables ........................................................................................................................... 10 List of figures .......................................................................................................................... 12 List of appendices .................................................................................................................. 15 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 17 Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations .................................................................................. 18 A. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 19 B. Specific research questions .......................................................................................... 22 C. Rationale and motivation ............................................................................................... 24 a. Academic rationale .................................................................................................... 24 b. Personal motivation ................................................................................................... 25 D. Research approach ....................................................................................................... 27 E. Scope and limitations .................................................................................................... 28 F. Empirical methodology and data ................................................................................... 28 G. Thesis outline ................................................................................................................ 31 1.0 Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 36 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 36 1.2 Defining inequality ....................................................................................................... 36 1.3 The significance of inequality ...................................................................................... 37 1.4 Factors of influence on income distribution ................................................................. 39 1.4.1 Macroeconomic factors ........................................................................................ 39 1.4.2 Education .............................................................................................................. 40 1.4.3 Health ................................................................................................................... 41 1.4.4. Age, ethnicity, gender .......................................................................................... 43 1.4.5 Horizontal and regional inequalities ..................................................................... 44 1.4.6 Political economy of inequality ............................................................................. 45 1.5 How Iran fits into the inequality literature ..................................................................... 48 2.0 Iran, income inequality and the rentier state ................................................................. 53 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 53 2.2 Historical and contemporary context ........................................................................... 54 4 2.3 Consistent income inequality ....................................................................................... 55 2.4 Persistent regional disparities ...................................................................................... 58 2.5 Significance of inequality in Iran .................................................................................. 59 2.6 Gaps in income inequality research on Iran ................................................................ 61 2.6.1 Few inter-regional empirical studies ..................................................................... 61 2.6.2 No time series research ....................................................................................... 63 2.6.3 No intra-regional analysis ..................................................................................... 63 2.7 Existing approaches by the literature to income inequality in Iran .............................. 65 2.7.1 Coupling poverty with income distribution ............................................................ 65 2.7.2 The pre-revolution / post-revolution approach ..................................................... 65 2.7.3 Iran’s post-revolutionary inequality riddle ............................................................. 67 2.8 Vertical inequality in a rentier state .............................................................................. 68 2.8.1 Implications of rentier theory for inequality ........................................................... 68 2.8.2 Weak fiscal setup ................................................................................................. 72 2.8.3 Rentier classes ..................................................................................................... 72 2.8.4 Globally uncompetitive industry............................................................................ 74 2.8.5 Helping the poor but worsening inequality ..........................................................