Journal of economics and regional development

Abstract Abstract Nowadays information plays an important role in the development process of societies so that the usage of related technologies such as ICT can speed up this process by preparing cheap and effective instruments and changing working and living styles. The aim of this paper is to investigate the main determinants of information and communication technology (ICT) adoption in 18 selected Asian countries from 2000 to2005. For this purpose, panel data technique has been used. The empirical results show that regional and geographical differences towards cultural-social ones with some major development variables could explain ICT usage inequalities in studied countries. Key Words: Panel data, Asian countries, Information and Communication Technology Jel classification: O53, O33, C23

Abstract University of Mashhad Abstract This research is an attempt to study the economics of replacing the gasoline burning taxies with dual “gas-gasoline” burning taxies by analyzing the private and social benefits resulted by this replacement of fuel consumption. For this end a sample of Mashhad taxies with 423 taxies under study has been taken and the required information about the costs and benefits of this replacement has been obtained via questionnaire and the Equivalent Uniform Annual Method has been employed for analyzing the collected data. The results of this research indicate that in 1388 the replacement of gasoline burning taxies with dual” gas-gasoline” burning taxies in private analysis have an interest as big as 2281700 Rials annually and in social analysis (with the assumption of having raise in the number of gas stations and arrive opportunity cost premised zero) an interest as big as 2757512 Rials is earned. Key words: Dual” gas-gasoline” taxies, Compressed natural gas, Emissions, Equivalent Uniform Annual method

Abstract Abstract This paper after studying popularized and economic condition in Iran and Turkey, investigates economic integration trade result of the two countries together and with South West Asia region. in fact the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the trade potential and Its effects on increasing bilateral trade between Iran and Turkey.This paper aims to answer this question: Could trade cooperation between Iran and Turkey and also with other members of South West Asia region lead to the increase of bilateral trade? In order to answer this question, Generalized Gravity Model was used and it was estimated with Panel Data method. The results indicate that per capital income and geographical distance between them greatly justify economic cooperation between Iran and Turkey. This can lead to an increase in bilateral trade cooperation between two countries. The results also showed that two countries can not have integration with other South West Asia countries. JEL Classification: F15, F36. Keywords: Trade integration, Bilateral trade, Generalized Gravity Model, Panel Data.

Abstract Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between capital stock and increasing the productivity of labor and total factor productivity (TFP) in industrial groups of Khorasan Razavi province from 2003 to 2007. In order to this first, the available literature in this area and the importance of productivity was reviewed, also the history of productivity in Asia and the situation of industry in Khorasan Razavi province was briefly studied from different aspects. Then capital stock, labor force engaged in industrail groups of the province and labor and total productivity were introduced as the variables of the research. Finaly, after estimating the capital stock of the industrial groups that were specified using a proper model, the hypotheses of the research were tested with imploying panel data models. The obtained results show that there is a positive and statistical significant relationship between increasing capital stock and labor productivity and between capital stock and total factor productivity (TFP) in the period of study as well. Key Words: Partial productivity, Total Factor productivity, Capital stock, Labor force, Industrial groups.

Abstract Abstract This study investigates the impact of housing and non- housing investment on the Iran's gross domestic production (GDP) using quarterly data from 1370-1 to 1386-4. Considering that Iran has an open economy and that the net export plays an important role in GDP fluctuations, this research focuses on the difference between the effects of residential and non-residential investment in open and with closed economy. Similar to the study of Bisping & Patron (2008), this research uses VECM and generalized impulse response function (GIRF) to survey the importance of components of GDP. In closed economy, the results demonstrate that non- housing investment is more important than residential investment on GDP, but in open economy the impact of residential investment on GPD is more than non- housing investment. Consumption and government expenditure in both models, open economy & closed economy, have the most effects on GDP. Key words: Housing investment, Open economy macroeconomics, Generalized impulse response (GIRF)Jel: F41, R42, C52

Abstract Population growth, resource consumption and environmental pollution draws public attention to sustainable development. Housing is one of the built environment that is significantly important. Case study method has been used in this research and sustainable development and social and economical aspects of housing sustainable development have been studied. Accordingly the old fabric of Booshehr that is one of the rich fabrics in Iran has been studied. The results show that vernacular housing such as the case study has important aspects of sustainability that can be used in future developments. appropriate guidelines for new housing developments have been introduced. Keywords: Sustainable development, Economical sustainability, Environmental sustainability, Vernacular housing, Booshehr

Abstract Abstract Considering the importance of poverty in economic development issues and the necessity to study in this field the purpose of this paper is to estimate poverty line in Khuzestan province from 1997 to 2006. Therefore, by calculation of food matrix, the amount of received energy in different deciles has been measured and then the absolute poverty line for urban and rural areas based on calories has been estimated. The results revealed that during the mentioned period, absolute poverty line both in urban and rural areas has increased, but the increase in urban areas is more than the increase in rural areas. Keywords: Poverty, Poverty line, Food matrix, Khuzestan. JEL Classification: CO2