Analyzing the Factors Affecting the Efficiency of Iran’s Central Bank: An Application of System Dynamics Modeling

The central bank is the most important economic institution of any country, and for this reason, the efficiency of this institution is of particular importance. Study on the efficiency of the Central Bank of Iran is an inevitable necessity due to the instability of prices and significant non-performing loans in the banking system. In this study, first, efficiency of the Central Bank of Iran along with 15 different countries was calculated by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The input variables for calculating the efficiency of the central bank contain fixed assets and personnel and administrative cost. The output variables include monetary policy and banking supervision, which banking supervision includes financial and banking freedom and the ratio of non-performing loans. Then factors affecting the efficiency of the Central Bank of Iran between the years 2012 to 2018 were analyzed by using the system dynamics modeling method. In the first step, the causal loop diagrams (CLD) and the stock-flow diagram (SFD) of factors affecting efficiency in Central Bank of Iran were drawn were drawn. Then model validation tests were performed. Finally, different scenarios were investigated. The results of this study showed that the Central Bank of Iran in 2012-2018 is one of the most inefficient central banks among the 16 studied countries and is a long way from the three countries on the efficiency frontier like South Korea, Canada, and Australia. Central bank Independence and the significant amount of non-performing loans of the banking system are the main reasons for the inefficiency of the central bank of Iran. By applying different scenarios to improve the efficiency of the Central Bank, it was concluded that the most important effective factors to improve the efficiency of the Central Bank of Iran are monitoring the banking system along with preventing the increase of government debt with the independence of the Central Bank.