Revolution and Economic Transition The Iranian Experience By Hooshang Amirahmadi. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1990, 384pp.

Abstract

In this book, the author offers an empirical and theoretical analysis of
the relationship between the Iranian Islamic revolution and the performance
of the Iranian economy. The book in divided into three main chapters plus
an introduction and a conclusion.
In the introduction, the author gives a profound analysis of the prerevolutionary
period with a special emphasis on the Shah's open-door economic
policies which led to rapid and uneven economic growth and eventually increased
Iran's economic dependence on the capitalist world. The author also
analyzes the emerging political, cultural, and social ideologies in the Iranian
society which set the stage for revolution. The proclaimed aims of the revolution
were listed as achieving economic development, sovereignty, and justice. These
were subsequently transformed into an Islamic vision as reflected in the constitution
and the first socioeconomic plan of the Islamic Republic.
In the second chapter, the forces influencing the postrevolutionary economy
are pointed out. The major force was the war which erupted with Iraq in
the early 1980s. Apart from the destruction and loss of life, the war had
an overwhelmingly negative and permanent impact on the economy ...