Mohammad Reza Farzanegan

1. Tehran’s housing market experienced a puzzling situation during the two recent armed conflicts in 2025 and 2026. On the one hand, we observe a significant contraction in transactions and listing...

With a representative survey of 1214 participants conducted in early 2022, this study investigates the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and marital formation and childbirth dynamics in Iran. The results of the empirical investigation using logit models suggest that the experience of unemployment due to the pandemic is positively associated with getting married during the pandemic, and the experience of losing a close relative or family member is negatively associated with getting married. In addition, concerns about the persistence of the pandemic and the vaccination status show negative associations with childbirth during the pandemic. We found heterogeneous results depending on gender, location, and social class; for example, the negative associations of concern about a prolonged pandemic and vaccination status with childbirth are statistically significant in the female subsample but not in the male subsample. Overall, the results have implications for the development of the fertility rate and population in post-pandemic Iran.

The Resource Curse hypothesis posits that resource-rich countries, particularly those dependent on oil, tend to experience lower economic growth rates compared to resource-poor nations. Our study contributes to this literature by providing empirical evidence of a new transmission channel of the Resource Curse: the long-term increasing impact of oil rents dependency on educational inequality. Analyzing cross-sectional data averaged over the period of 1960–2015 from 141 countries, we find that countries with higher dependency on oil rents exhibit greater levels of educational inequality, measured by the educational inequality Gini coefficient. This effect remains robust even after controlling for various other factors. The analysis also reveals that the quality of governance plays a crucial moderating role. Our study reveals and supports the existence of a channel through which the Resource Curse manifests itself in the long term, perpetuates inequality, and hinders progress toward sustainable development.

This study examines men's attitudes toward women's education in Afghanistan across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, as well as women pursuing studies in other provinces or abroad. Using nationally representative repeated cross‐sectional survey data from over 69,000 respondents collected by the Asia Foundation (2014–2021) across all 34 provinces, we apply multivariate regression analysis to assess attitudinal patterns. We find that men's attitudes are largely negative, particularly in rural areas. Women's financial contributions to their households are significantly associated with more supportive attitudes toward women's education, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels, and when studying outside their home province. Perceived insecurity exacerbates negative attitudes, though this effect is less pronounced when women contribute financially. These findings highlight the role of economic empowerment in reshaping gender norms and advancing educational equity in Afghanistan. Our results are robust across multiple sensitivity checks and alternative specifications.

This study examines the link between income inequality and political instability, focusing on the moderating role of Internet penetration. Using data from over 120 countries (1996–2020), we find a conditional relationship: in low‐Internet countries, higher inequality associates with lower instability, likely due to limited political awareness or collective action. In contrast, in highly connected societies, widespread Internet use amplifies economic disparities, increasing instability. Robustness checks, including conflict‐related deaths and dynamic panel GMM, confirm these patterns. The results highlight digital connectivity as a key channel turning inequality into unrest, underscoring the need for policies targeting disparities in connected societies.