Ali Asghar Salem; Habib Morovat; Atefeh Heidary Milani; Masoumeh Azizkhani
Abstract
Over the last decade, there has been a clear increase in ICT expenditures by households, both in value and as a proportion of total expenditure. Such a trend, however, has not affected all households in the same way. This study analyzes the socio-economic determinants of urban household expenditures ...
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Over the last decade, there has been a clear increase in ICT expenditures by households, both in value and as a proportion of total expenditure. Such a trend, however, has not affected all households in the same way. This study analyzes the socio-economic determinants of urban household expenditures on ICT goods and services in Iran in the year 2019 based on microdata from the Household Budget Surveys. To achieve this, we have applied Heckman's two-stage model, aiming to identify the determinants affecting the likelihood of spending on ICT and the amount spent. Our analysis further dissects ICT spending into its constituent components, including IT goods, IT services, communication goods, and communication services. Based on the results, per capita income has a significant and positive effect both on the probability of spending and the level of per capita ICT expenditures. Moreover, households led by male heads are more likely to engage in ICT spending, although their actual expenditures are lower. Households with larger sizes and households which have a married head are more likely to spend on ICT. The impact of education level and age of the household’s head on both the probability to use and the amount spent is positive and significant. There is a negative quadratic relationship between the age of the household’s head and both the probability of spending and the level of per capita ICT expenditures. Furthermore, consumption economies of scale exist in ICT expenditures. The likelihood of spending on all types of ICT components is positively influenced by per capita income, size of the household, education and age of the household’s head. Concerning the level of per capita expenditures on IT goods and communication goods and services, they are higher for households who have higher per capita income. There is a negative quadratic relationship between the age of the household’s head and both the probability of spending and the level of communication services expenditures. Households with highly educated heads tend to allocate higher budgets to communication goods and services. Lastly, consumption economies of scale are observed in IT goods, IT services, and communication services.
Ali Asghar Salem; Leyla Jabari; Zahra Bayat
Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of transportation infrastructure on the energy efficiency of the industry in the provinces of Iran. The rapid growth of industries in the world during the last few years has led to an increase in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Energy ...
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The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of transportation infrastructure on the energy efficiency of the industry in the provinces of Iran. The rapid growth of industries in the world during the last few years has led to an increase in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Energy efficiency contribute to economic growth, energy security, reduction of greenhouse gases, and energy sustainability. One of the factors affecting energy efficiency is transportation infrastructure, which, as the main capital of social development, can affect energy efficiency through various mechanisms. These infrastructures can have different effects on energy efficiency from the channels of the economy of scale, the effect of technology spillover and other external factors, and the effect of competition between production enterprises. We apply a panel threshold model to approximate the threshold effect of transportation infrastructure on industrial energy efficiency using data of 31 provinces of Iran from 2006 to 2019. The results showed that the transportation infrastructures have a non-linear effect on energy efficiency so that when the logarithm of real GDP is higher than the second threshold (15/66), transportation infrastructures significantly improve energy efficiency, and when the logarithm of GDP is lower than the first threshold (14/64), the expansion of this type of infrastructure reduces the energy efficiency of the industry, and between the two thresholds of transportation infrastructure, it does not affect the energy efficiency of the industry. In addition, technological progress and energy prices also have a positive and, significant effect on industrial energy efficiency.
Ali Asqhar Salem; Habib Morovat; Reza Bakhtiarinejad
Abstract
Nowadays, Information and Communications Technology is growing rapidly due to the considerable increase in using knowledge-based theories in all countries, especially in developing economies such as Iran. As a non-competitive technology with unlimited use capacity, Information and Communications ...
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Nowadays, Information and Communications Technology is growing rapidly due to the considerable increase in using knowledge-based theories in all countries, especially in developing economies such as Iran. As a non-competitive technology with unlimited use capacity, Information and Communications Technology entry in the general application and social life shows its potential to affect social welfare. This study will evaluate the impact of Information and Communications Technology on Sen's Social Welfare Index in Iranian provinces using data from 2011 to 2016. The paper uses Feasible Generalized Least Squares method to capture variance heteroscedasticities and cross-section correlations. The results indicate that Information and Communications Technology has a significant and positive effect on Iranian social welfare. Moreover, variables such as industrialization, government spending, and urbanization have a substantial and positive impact on social welfare. The inflation rate, on the other hand, has a significant and negative effect.
Ali Asghar Salem; reza zamani; Negin sadat Faghihi
Abstract
In this study, the effect of socio-economic variables on bread demand has been investigated using AIDS model and micro data. In this model, socio-economic variables such as age, gender and marital status of household breadwinner, his/her own level of education and that of the spouse’s, household ...
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In this study, the effect of socio-economic variables on bread demand has been investigated using AIDS model and micro data. In this model, socio-economic variables such as age, gender and marital status of household breadwinner, his/her own level of education and that of the spouse’s, household size, and employment status and income level of household members have been used. A dummy variable is also used to account for implementation of targeted subsidies law is also used and, in this study, it shows the effects of this policy. To meet this end, the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) is applied. This model has been estimated using the consolidated data and Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) method and the information from more than 165,000 urban households in the country for the years 2007-2015 and for different income groups (low income, medium and wealthy). The results of this research show that, during the period under study, bread was an essential goods for all income groups. The price elasticity of bread demand for all income groups was 0/5. Therefore, bread is an inelastic goods for all income groups. Also, the coefficients related to household size, level of education for the breadwinner and his/her spouse, employment status and marital status of household breadwinner and the dummy variable of targeted subsidies law are positive and significant. The coefficient related to the age of household breadwinner for poor and middle-income households has been estimated to be positive and for wealthy households it has not been found to be significant .The coefficient belonging to the gender of the head of household for poor households has been estimated to be insignificant and for middle-income and wealthy households it has been estimated to be positive and significant.
fatemeh mirmohammadalitajrishi; teymour mohammadi; Ali Asghar Salem
Abstract
Expenditure pattern across households varies due to differences in their economic circumstances, household size and composition. So, movements in prices of goods over time will have different impacts on households. “Equivalence scale” is an index that enables us to do welfare comparisons ...
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Expenditure pattern across households varies due to differences in their economic circumstances, household size and composition. So, movements in prices of goods over time will have different impacts on households. “Equivalence scale” is an index that enables us to do welfare comparisons and measurements of poverty and inequality across heterogeneous households, under consideration of households’ demographic characteristics and economies of scale in consumption. Implementation of targeted subsidies policy in Iran that has made significant price variations in recent years, has changed Iranian households’ equivalence scale. In this research, the urban households’ equivalence scale and variation of relative cost of a child was estimated using PS-QUAIDS and nonlinear Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SURs), applying Iranian household's budget dataset for 2008 to 2012. Results indicate that the cost of an urban child is equal to 13 percent of an adult for 2008 until 2010 and the targeted subsidies policy has a negative and significant impact on equivalence scale.
Habib Morovat; Ali Asghar Salem; mahboobeh khadem
Abstract
Tourism Industry has important role in the job creating and economic development. Because of it, identifying effective factors on foreign tourism demand and attractiveness of tourism destinations is important. We used panel data of incoming tourist and characteristics of tourism destinations in 147 countries ...
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Tourism Industry has important role in the job creating and economic development. Because of it, identifying effective factors on foreign tourism demand and attractiveness of tourism destinations is important. We used panel data of incoming tourist and characteristics of tourism destinations in 147 countries between years 2007 to 2015 to examine which factors have significant effect on foreign tourism demand. We used three aggregate indices to identify characteristics of tourism destinations that are regulatory framework, business environment and infrastructure, and human, cultural and natural resources. Our results show that business environment, tourism infrastructures such as air and ground transportation infrastructure and price competitiveness have significant effects on foreign tourism demand. We have also used thirteen more detailed indices of tourism destination characteristics and show that safety and security (such as the costliness of common crime and violence as well as terrorism, and the extent to which police services can be relied upon for protection from crime) , natural and cultural resources (such as cultural heritage and nationally protected areas) and price competitiveness indices have a significant effect on foreign tourism demand.
Ali Asghar Salem
Abstract
The spread of information and communication technology and its effects on information and data transfer, in association with high quality education, a favorable economic regime, and innovation in economy, has played an indispensable role in sustainable growth and development. This study is conducted ...
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The spread of information and communication technology and its effects on information and data transfer, in association with high quality education, a favorable economic regime, and innovation in economy, has played an indispensable role in sustainable growth and development. This study is conducted to identify the role and effect of knowledge-based economy on economic growth within the context of existing economic literature. In this line, relying on principles of economic growth models, a model is estimated in the framework of a panel data model, considering the knowledge-based economy index of 139 selected countries during period 2010 to 2014. This research focuses not only on basic production inputs, i.e. capital and labor, but also on social capital and knowledge-based economy as two of the most important factors of production, and it show the role of social capital in economic growth. Our results show a positive and significant effect of the knowledge-based economy index on economic growth among the set of selected countries.
Somayeh Khatibi; Ali Asghar Salem
Volume 15, Issue 57 , July 2015, , Pages 141-164
Abstract
After fifty years from establishment of first islamic bank, nowadays islamic banking growth and its successful competition with conventional banks is clearly observed. In our paper, we measure the cost efficiency of islamic and conventional banks. Our sample contains 7 countries: Jordan, United Arab ...
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After fifty years from establishment of first islamic bank, nowadays islamic banking growth and its successful competition with conventional banks is clearly observed. In our paper, we measure the cost efficiency of islamic and conventional banks. Our sample contains 7 countries: Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, because they have both types of banking and data for both types of banks in selective country is accessible. By using Stochastic Frontier Approach over the period of 1999-2006, this study shows that, on average, the efficiency of an islamic bank (0.902) is higher than that of conventional bank (0.849). This fact can be the reason of growing islamic banking sector and the cause of other countries’ incentive to establish islamic banks. The comparisons between countries show that in United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the efficiency of islamic banks is higher than that of conventional ones but in Jordan, Turkey and Qatar, conventional banks are more efficient..
Parviz Davodi; Ali Asghar Salem
Volume 6, Issue 23 , January 2007, , Pages 15-48
Abstract
In order to investigate the contribution of gasoline price change on Iran's economy, in this study, by using panel data and estimating an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model for the period of 1996 -2003, we've tried to calculate changes on household's welfare in different income levels, which are ...
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In order to investigate the contribution of gasoline price change on Iran's economy, in this study, by using panel data and estimating an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model for the period of 1996 -2003, we've tried to calculate changes on household's welfare in different income levels, which are arisen from a 30 percent increase in gasoline price. Equivalent Variation (EV) and Compensative Variation (CV) are two applied criteria for this purpose. In addition to direct effects, it has been tried to calculate the indirect contribution of this change on household's welfare. The results indicate that the relative loss of welfare is more for the lower income levels than for the higher.
