N. M. MAMMADOVA
Candidate of Economic Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Iran Keywords: social policy, principles of the Islamic legal system, Gini coefficient, Mehr program
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Shah's model of development provided Iran with a fairly high rate of economic growth. Every year, the volume of industrial output increased by 10-15%. Modern branches of industrial production were emerging. And yet, this model has failed, mainly because the right balance has not been found in the relationship between the wealthier state and society. Yes, in general, the level of GDP per capita has grown 3.8 times in ten years (from 1966/67 to 1976/77). However, at the same time, the stratification of society also grew rapidly.1
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new regime declared its primary goal to support the underprivileged. The Islamic leadership faced a challenge: what should be the specific social policy, how should it be correlated with the Islamic principles of justice?
On the eve of the revolution, the Gini coefficient 2, which shows the level of uniformity, or, in other words, equity in the distribution of income, was 0.5143 (the higher to one, the greater the income inequality).
This, of course, is not as critical as it was in other countries neighboring Iran. But the concept of inequality, like poverty, always has a subjective dimension in addition to the objective one.
The concept of subjective inequality includes various aspects - from economic to cultural. This includes the difference in living conditions, especially in the everyday life of the Europeanized stratum of the population and the traditional strata that received very little from oil money; and the difference in access to health care and education. Discontent was caused by the spread of prostitution, alcohol, and foreign influence in culture.
It cannot be said that the Shah's regime did nothing in the field of social policy. After all, the" white re ...
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