مجله بررسی مسائل اقتصاد ایران
سال پنجم شماره 1 (پیاپی 9، بهار و تابستان 1397)

The inflation-unemployment trade-off investigation has a long history which began with Fisher (1926) and Phillips (1958). This paper examines the trade-off between inflation and output gap for the period 1988Q4-2013Q1 using a Global Vector Autoregressive (GVAR) model and considering the aggregate supply side shocks. Model includes 34 major economies with an accumulative share of more than 80 percent of world GDP. The results are as follows: 1) in most countries, the inflation-output gap trade-off is confirmed in the long-run. 2) The positive relationship between inflation and the output gap is approved in the short-run. A positive shock, however, in the output gap leads to lower inflation in some countries such as Iran which is explainable by upward sloping Philips curve of Friedman (1968b).

This Survey traces the philosophical foundations of the value problem in the history of economic thought. The historical evolution of economic thought implies that there is no subject/object dichotomy in Aristotelian and scholastic traditions; subjective and objective dimensions of value were inseparable from each other and the natural dimension of value was correlated with the social dimension of value. However, after the renaissance and the formation of subject/object dichotomy in modern philosophy and self-interest-based capitalistic economic system, the objective dimension of value was emphasized in the classic age at first. The labor theory of value emerged in this context among classical economists and Marx. But after the marginalistic revolution, the subjective dimension of value was emphasized. Due to the domination of the mathematical approach and positivistic value-free vision in this period, the value dimension was dissolved and was replaced by the price theory. Finally, the heterodox streams tried to revive the value problem by focusing on the objective/subjective dialectics (in critical realism) and ethical and normative dimensions of economics (in AmartyaSen’s capability approach).

Political economy is a strong paradigm in interdisciplinary studies of economics, which can analyze different economic and non- economic issues. In addition, findings of political economy can provide efficient instruments for policy making in economic systems. Using analytical-descriptive method, interdisciplinary method and employing economic theories, this paper is going to explain, analyze and investigate political economy. Considering the interdisciplinary nature of political economy, which is one of the most fruitful scientific disciplines in social science, the findings of this paper can be helpful in solving the problems of economics and also other social science’s disciplines. The findings of this paper, based on the latest available researches on the subject by 2019, can also be helpful in analyzing the various dimensions of Iran's economy and in designing a policy structure considering superior institutions, since many studies show that many of the problems of Iran's economy are political-economic, not only economic.

Comparing the three epistemic areas of neoclassical economics, institutional economics, and economic sociology, this paper seeks to reveal their commonalities and differentiations. The common feature of these domains is their trial to understand economic phenomena. The first two areas are in the field of the epistemology of economics and the third one is in the field of the epistemology of sociology. Introducing the neoclassical economics, this paper addresses the main assumptions and implications of these hypotheses. In the institutional economics, the North’s and Coase’s critiques to neoclassical economics will be addressed, and the concept of ‘transaction costs’ in North’s, Coase’s, and Williamson's views is drawn to attention. In the sociology of economics, classical economic sociology and new economic sociology will be discussed focusing on their main representatives that are Weber and Granovetter respectively. Finally, some of the major controversies among free-market advocates, institutionalism advocates, and defenders of economic sociologists in Iran are investigated.

Liberalism encompasses a diverse range of political, economic, social, and cultural values that have been interpreted over time in various ways and have created various branches. This article deals with the main faces of economic liberalism. There have been three main branches of economic liberalism: Classical liberalism, egalitarian liberalism, and neo-liberalism. Classical liberalism has been developed in 19th century emphasizing the negative nature of freedom in the market. During the 20th century, two other faces of economic liberalism have been emerged. Egalitarian liberalism which likes a more equal distribution of benefits, and neo-liberalism which prioritizes economic liberalization policies such as privatization, deregulation, and free trade. Neo-liberalism supports the idea that free market needs a strong state in order to protect it.

From the perspective of conventional neoclassical theories, consumers, corporations and economic factors are maximizer and optimizer.Therefore, without the need for interference of any external factor, they maximize the utility, profitability and, consequently, social welfare. But it is claimed that in Iran’s housing industry, the level of building retrofitting, especially the seismic resistance level, is not optimal, which means that the optimizing Agents spend Budget less than the optimal rate for this task. Accepting this claim, this paper tries to explain why this event is occurred emphasizing the framework of information economics and behavioral economics. This study first examines the cataclysmic events in the Iranian Housing industry, due to the lack of asymmetric information flow between housing producers and consumers, and provides solutions in the form of signaling, screening, and standardization of information. Secondly, the uncertainty effect of earthquake definite risk over retrofitting is analyzed. And, finally, based on some behavioral economics’ assumptions, we attempt to explain how to reduce demands for and costs of retrofitting proportional to the optimal level, and to develop theoretical solutions to the problem.