An Index for Economic Justice: The Case of Iran

Considering the normative nature of the theories of justice, a distinguished theory of justice could be formulated based on the fundamental teachings of Islam. Hence a new set of indexes are required to put this new concept to test. Through detailed study of the Islamic teachings, the research seeks to formulate a comprehensive theory on economic justice (based on various economic rights). In this theory, removing poverty and unjust inequality is one of the dimensions of justice, but by no means all of it. Then a composite indicator of economic justice was proposed based on this conceptual framework. The indicator was confirmed by 30 experts using the Delphi method with zero (0) as the worst (lowest) economic justice and one (1) as the best (highest) situation. Calculating this indicator for Iran’s economy during 2001-2010 showed a minor drop to 0.48 from 0.52. The most important factors in the deterioration of economic justice were the failure to comply with intergenerational justice, limited guarantee for property rights, and exploitation of common resources.