The Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran is often associated with setbacks in women’s empowerment because of increased restrictions on women’s participation in the social and economic life of the country. Yet, in two important respects, rising female education and fertility decline, women’s...

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran is often associated with setbacks in women’s empowerment because of increased restrictions on women’s participation in the social and economic life of the country. Yet, in two important respects, rising female education and fertility decline, women’s...

Wide-ranging US sanctions against Iran in the past decade were in large part imposed to harm the living standards of ordinary Iranians in the hope that their leaders would submit to US demands to limit their nuclear program. In this study, I use extensive survey data to assess the impact of...

Youth Exclusion in Iran: The State of Education, Employment and Family Formation

Despite nearly three decades of revolutionary government rule in Iran poverty and inequality remain the central issues of political debate in Iran. Public dissatisfaction, as demonstrated by the electoral success of the populist candidate in the 2005 presidential election, has been widely...

The Islamic Revolution of 1979, the eight-year war (1980-88) with Iraq, and the collapse of oil prices in 1986 dealt huge blows to Iran's economy. In this paper we use a pseudo panel constructed from annual multiple surveys during 1984-2004 to understand how individuals and families have fared...

In recent years Iran has greatly expanded its early childhood education program, taking first place in the Middle East in preschool enrolment. In this paper we examine the reasons for the unusual expansion and argue that it is in large part an institutional response to demographic changes in...

We consider the effect of labor market rigidities on human capital accumulation and economic growth when some human capital is difficult to observe prior to employment. We distinguish between two types of human capital, those that formal schooling and test scores can measure (``knowledge") and...