Migration, Economic Growth and Regional Convergence in Iran

Convergence hypothesis includes two types of beta and sigma. In this study, we examine convergence hypothesis among Iran’s provinces and discuss the effect of internal net migration in that context since 2000 to 2007. The results indicate that poor provinces grow faster than rich ones and there is beta convergence in Iran. About sigma convergence, we found that the dispersion of GDP per capita increase among these provinces over the years. Immigration is one of the factors that could influence economic growth of provinces and convergence among them. The results show a direct relationship between net immigration and per capita GDP growth of provinces. When the variable of net migration is included into convergence equation, it increases beta coefficient. So, net migration has a negative effect on convergence. Immigration flows more from the poor provinces to rich provinces and increases the gap among them.