A Comparison of Economic Vulnerability in Iran with Other Middle-Income Selected Countries

Macroeconomic vulnerability is a concept used to assess the exposure of countries against foreign shocks and probability of economic crises. Today, this concept is commonly used in
developing and developed countries in the forms of economic vulnerability and economic
strength indices. The aim of this study is to introduce and explain the theoretical basis of the economic vulnerability index to reach a suitable structure for evaluating this index in Iran and other middle-income countries. The results of this study show that the situation of Iran in terms of this indicator among the 8 countries surveyed in the period between 1995 and 2012 was not satisfactory, in a way that the rank of Iran in most of this period (13 years) was higher than the average 8 countries. Also, the trend of this indicator is positive and rising for Iran in this period. Analysis of Economic factors affecting vulnerability show that in this period, weakness of export diversification was the most important item that negatively affected the level of economic vulnerability in Iran in comparison with other selected countries.