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

2. 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.

3. 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 , the government was successful in achieving most of its economic, social, and military objectives

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Bibliography
1) Amuzegar, Jahangir. "The Iranian Economy before and after the Revolution." Middle East Institute, n.d. Web. Nov. & dec
2) History of the Iranian Rial Currency - Sanctions Lifted NickG -Dar Says-NickG says-Charles says-FreeDragon says-Non Says -
3) "100 Years Of Oil PDF cda23bda1d9d47af580049ad1b0c8336." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb
4) "Esfahani and Pesaran - Iranian Economy in Twentieth Century." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb
5) "Islamic Revolution of 1979: The Downfall of American ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb