Roots of Inflation in Iran (1959-2007)

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Sistan and Baluchestan University

2 M. A. in Economics

Abstract

The authors of the present paper try to study the affecting roots and factors on
inflation, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model, Granger-Wald Causality
Tests, Impulse Response Function (IRF), and Variance Decomposition. The
affecting variables dealt with in this paper are as follows: liquidity growth rate,
imported inflation, labor productivity, wage rate, exchange rate in informal market
in comparison with formal market, the production gap, budget deficit, bottlenecks in
agriculture sector during 1959-2007. The results of this study show that the abovementioned
variables have a significant effect on inflation while the expected
inflation rate and structural limitations are regarded as the paramount factor. The
authors finally conclude that the current theories have support from some part of the
findings, but none by itself can explain the inflation in Iran's economy.

Keywords