The Role of Ports in Economic Growth Iranian Coastal Provinces

The economy of many countries around the world is now dependent on commercial activities in ports. Although ports are considered among the most important transportation infrastructures that can greatly affect economic growth, less attention is paid to ports and their relevant commercial activities in Iran. This study used the mixed-data method to address this issue by reviewing the data related to Khuzestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Guilan, and Mazandaran provinces of Iran in the period 2005-2017. The results showed that the operating capacity of ports exhibited a significant and positive effect on the economic production of the studied provinces. In addition, the uploading and offloading volume showed a significant but nonlinear effect on the economic production of hosts. In other words, the economic production increased with the increase in the operating capacity of ports but further increase in the operating capacity beyond the critical point negatively affected economic production. The study findings also indicated that human development, economic growth rate at the beginning of the studied period, employment, government investment in ports, government’s working budget, technology, manufacturing structures, and urbanization rate had positive and significant effects on the economic production of the studied provinces.