The Impacts of Economic, Political, and Social Structures on Exchange Rate Fluctuations in Iran (1973-2003)

Recently, there has been a focus, among many economists such as Ronald Coase, Douglas North, and Oliver E. Williamson, on recognizing the institutional and structural conditions of societies and their impacts on economics and economic variables.This study has been aimed at the influences of economic, political, and social structures on fluctuations of exchange rate during a period of thirty years (1973-2001). To do the task, we have firstly referred to various existing theories concerning factors involved in exchange rate fluctuations, and have reviewed the exchange rate changes throughout the intended period. Next, we have analyzed exchange rate changes through a historical study, and have recognized the most important economic, political, and social structures in Iran in order to make a comparative exploration of exchange rate changes. The results have shown that the mentioned structures have, in many ways, influenced the exchange rate fluctuations in Iran. The obtained primary findings were included in a questionaire in order to test hypotheses of this study in accordance with the attitudes of Iranian economic authorities and academicians. Through doing the various coefficient tests including Kendall’s Tau-b, Kendall’s Tau-c, Gamma, and Spearman tests, all three intended hypotheses show the existence of a significant relationship between economic, political, and social structures, and exchange rate fluctuations. This study has concluded a summary, policy recommendations, and final considerations