Iranian Economy Before 1979 Revolution Tariq Green Ludecama Agenor Amir Rifai Rickenson Robert

Economic System The publicized picture of Iran before the 1979 revolution is often of an economy involved in: Stagnation, suffering from an intolerable chasm between the rich and the poor Agriculture neglection for the sake of rapid industrialization. Wasting of oil revenues earnings on useless weaponry. The government kept most of the money and did little to benefit the majority of the population which lived under the poverty line. The shah wanted military superiority in the region, combined with a drive to see Iran join the ranks of the world's major industrial powers within a generation, and also desired to create a West European-style welfare state-all simultaneously with the aid of oil money.

Economic System Between 1946 and 1979, Iran was gradually transformed from a largely farm-based economy to a modern society Through public planning, urbanization, industrialization, diversification, and infrastructural investment, the state guided the economy and achieved sustained growth Through control of imports, management assistance, and low-cost credit, the government helped the private sector, and maintained an essentially free-market system During 1946-78 , the government was successful in achieving most of its economic, social, and military objectives

Economic System All sectors of the economy showed significant expansion, albeit at different rates. Investments in infrastructures, human resources, and defense under the shah, would enable the Islamic regime that came to power in 1979 to deal with the problems they faced much better than expected or imagined.

Forms of Currency Iran has had many currencies throughout its history such as the Qiran, Rial, Dozari, Panjzari and more frequently the Toman. The values of money between Iran and the United States of America differs greatly. Iranians commonly express amounts of money and prices of goods in "tomans". For this purpose, one "toman" equals 10 rials. Despite this usage, amounts of money and prices of goods are virtually always written in rials. The rial was first introduced in 1798 as a coin worth 1,250 dinars or one eighth of a toman. In 1825, the rial ceased to be issued, with the qiran of 1,000 dinars (one tenth of a toman) being issued as part of a decimal system. 1925-1960

Economic Successes/Failures Data for economic growth is scant and unreliable before 1959 However from 1960 onward there is sufficient data to support the fact that the Iranian economy was steadily improving up until 1979 In many cases it was seen that Iran was making more economic development than other third world countries such as Korea and Turkey

Economic Successes/ Failures A list of several of Iran's successes are as follows: The nation experienced a 9.6% increase in economic growth ( twice the average rate of increase for third world countries prior to 1979) Despite having an extremely low national income, Iran's per capita income was still more than that of most developing countries and was only about 20% less than that of Japan and Latin American countries Between 1960 and 1973 Iran’s oil production steadily increased and peaked at six million barrels produced per day

Economic Successes/ Failures The Constitutional revolution attempted to integrate Western concepts of liberal democracy into Iranian society However, this proved to be ineffective and nations such as Britain and Russia took advantage of the political upheaval that was created This intervention, coupled with the onset of WWI ultimately resulted in poor economic conditions for the Iranian people because famine and an extraordinary loss of life was present Economic Successes/ Failures

Economic Successes/Failures In addition, only about 8.1% of oil export revenues were actually received by the Iranian government in terms of taxes and royalties However, after the Consortium agreement held in 1954 between the Anglo American company and the Iranian government, Iran became entitled to 50% of all exports

The oil, gas, and construction industries were expanded nearly five times from 1964 to 1978. The oil industry was the product their economy was depended on increasingly throughout the 1970’s , as it was always their largest export. By 1977, the oil industry became nearly 80% of all government revenues, totaling nearly twenty billion dollars per year. Major Industries

The holder of economic power Before the iranian revolution, the companies that owned most of the economic power were mainly oil companies, as oil was high in demand. There were two main oil companies were the IOP(Iranian Oil Participants), and the NIOC(National Iranian Oil Company). The NIOC owned all of the oil facilities in Iran whereas the IOP would manage the exportation of the oil produced by the NIOC, being the operators of the oil industry. The holder of economic power

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