Endeavors to revive Iranian economy during Reza Shah Period (relying on Friedrich List’s national economy theory)

During Reza Shah’s monarchy in Iran (1941-1925), political, social and economic structures of Iran witnessed extensive revolution. Given the economic passivity and weakness of constitutional governments, most of experts emphasized on the necessity of economic revolution in Iran and they believed that Pahlavi government was bound and capable of implementing economic revolution in Iran. In responding to these demands, Reza Shah’s government influenced by German nationalist discourse tried ti implement nationalist and centralized theories in Iran. During that time, one of the significant evolutions in Germany was the foundation of national economy theory based on Friedrich List’s theories- German nationalist economist. His economic theories known as “National Economy Theory” were written in the mid-19the century which emphasized on nationalism, economic centralization and nationalization of all national economic resources. The main question of this article is: what national economic measures were taken during Reza Shah’s government and how they were related to Friedrich List’s theories? Hence, the authors of the present article investigate this subject through descriptive- analytic method. The findings of present study indicate that relying in national discourse and the support of some Iranian intellectuals, the modern absolute government of Reza Shah tried to make evolutions at different economic fields in order to provide required ground for the development of national economy and merging the small local economies in this economy.