Female labor force participation rates across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have remained low for over four decades, despite the fact that in the same period, women's education rapidly increased and fertility rates substantially decreased. This surprising phenomenon has remained...

Despite the remarkable increase in women's education levels and the rapid fall of their fertility rate in Iran, female labor force participation (FLFP) has remained low. Using the instrumental variable method, this paper estimates the causal impact of number of children on mothers' participation...

In this study, we embark on measuring inequality in Iran. We compute three measures of group-based inequality (Group-weighted Coefficient of Variation, Group-weighted Gini, and Group-weighted Theil) for the following outcomes: education, assets, income, and expenditure per capita. The groups are...

Military service is a popular method of army recruitment for governments of developing countries that are particularly prone to conflict. This study contributes to the largely under-researched issues of military service by looking at an unintended consequence of a military service exemption...

In the last three decades, women's education levels in Iran have consistently increased while fertility rates have fallen rapidly. But female labor force participation (FLFP) rate remains at low levels. This paper shows that despite the low rate, FLFP follows the same patterns as the economic...

Despite the rapid rise of women's education and the fall of their fertility rates in Iran, female labor force participation remains low. This paper uses twins at first birth as an instrumental variable to estimate the impact of number of children on mothers' participation in the labor market in...

Economic theory predicts that rents produced from natural resources, especially oil and gas, can increase opportunities for entrepreneurship, but they may also reduce engagement in entrepreneurial activities as they change incentives towards rent-seeking. Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor...

How much richer would the oil producing countries, in the Middle East, be if they invested all their natural resource rent? This study tries to answer this question by calculating the counterfactuals of capital stock and income under two major scenarios. Combining several data sets, including a...

Despite the remarkable increase in women's education levels and the rapid fall of their fertility rate in Iran, female labor force participation (FLFP) has remained low. Using the instrumental variable method, this paper estimates the causal impact of number of children on mothers' participation...