An economic alternative for the post- Islamic transition in Iran, Mehrdad Vahabi, June 11, 2023

Berkeley Lecture Series Presents:

A Lecture by
Dr. Mehrdad Vahabi

Topic:

An economic alternative for the post- Islamic transition in Iran

Date: Sunday, June 11, 2023
Time: 11:00 am (PDT); 9:30 pm (Tehran); 8:00 pm (CEST)
Place: BLS Virtual Conference Room

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Topic: A Lecture by Mehrdad Vahabi: An economic alternative for the post- Islamic transition in Iran

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Mehrdad Vahabi has characterized Iran’s economic system as Islamic political capitalism in contradistinction with ‘Islamic socialism’ (advocated by the official advisors and economists in Iran and abroad) as well as ‘Islamic neoliberalism’ (defended by the critics of the official approach). According to Vahabi, the Shi’i public finance in terms of Anfal is the economic principle on which the dispossession of the citizens from their public properties is justified. The economic system is based on the monopoly of both sovereignty and public property in the hands of the Imam and in his absence by the supreme jurisconsult. The system has evolved into a rent-seeking regime through non-market political channels notably a confiscatory regime structured around Anfal and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

The post-Islamic transition requires an economic alternative transforming 1) dominant property rights, 2) preponderant coordination mechanisms, and 3) the growth model. At the first level, it abolishes Anfal, unifies public finance, and nationalizes all the institutions under the auspices of the jurisconsult to bring transparency and control by the elected bodies of people’s sovereignty. At the second level, it terminates parallel institutions creating a unified administrative and military system and reducing drastically the state and ending political markets. At the third level, it ends up with patrimonial development and enhances a model of economic growth based on mass consumption.  

Mehrdad Vahabi, is Professor of Economics at University Sorbonne Paris Nord and director of the research center on Economics at North Paris (CEPN) affiliated to the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). He has published many books in English, French and Persian. Among them are The Political Economy of Destructive Power (Edward Elgar, 2004), The Political Economy of Predation (Cambridge University Press, 2015). He has published more than a hundred articles in peer journals and is an editor of Public Choice.

His most recent book “Destructive Coordination, Anfal and Islamic Political Capitalism“ introduces a new theoretical framework that examines Iran in relation to the theological concept of Anfal, a confiscatory regime seen in Iran since 1979 where public assets belong to the leader of Iran.

Lecture in Persian 

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