International Iranian Economic Association
Monthly Webinar Series
We are pleased to host a monthly webinar series, a combination of Keynote talks and panel sessions, on the second Wednesday of each month at the following times: 08.00 LA time | 11.00 Washington DC time | 16.00 London time | 19.30 Tehran time.
To attend our webinar series, please register here.
Previous Webinars
Panel session on Iran's Manufacturing Industries
and International Sanctions
8th of June 2022
Chair: Ida A Mirzaie (IIEA Board Member and Ohio State University)
Iran’s GDP contracted in the aftermath of intensified sanctions in 2012 and again in 2018. The sanctions also triggered massive currency devaluation, heightened inflation, and other broad shifts in Iran’s economy. The sanctions and their associated shifts along with the responses of the government and firms to them gave rise to a web of interactions that had non-uniform and complex effects on different parts of the economy. This panel explores the major channels through which sanctions and their concomitant events have affected various manufacturing industries in Iran. It also examines the ways Iranian manufacturing firms have responded to those shocks. Specifically, the panel consists of three presentations that address the following topics:
1. “Adapting to Sanctions: Evidence from Firm Response and Market Reallocation in Iran.” In this presentation, Ebad Ebadi (George Washington University) examines the direct, indirect, and heterogeneous impact of US-led international economic sanctions on Iranian manufacturing firms and discusses how the firms adjusted to the sanctions shocks.
2. “Sanctions, Innovation and the Growth of Knowledge-Based Economic Activity in Iran”. This topic is presented by Bijan Khajehpour (Eurasian Nexus Partners) who discusses the impact of sanctions on innovation in Iranian manufacturing companies and shows that the lack of access to foreign technology has compelled Iranian companies to become more innovative in finding alternative and innovative solutions.
3. “Patterns of Change in Iran’s Manufacturing Industries During a Period of Intensified International Sanctions in 2012-2013.” Under this topic, Hadi S Esfahani (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) argues that the large decline in Iran’s manufacturing output in 2013 had come about largely through sharp reductions in TFP as firms struggled to cope with the multi-facetted and strong shocks to their business environment. Though relative price changes helped production and investment, the bias of investment toward real estate may have been counterproductive.