ارزیابی وضعیت نابرابری در استان‌های ایران: جهت‌گیری‌ها و دستاوردها

کاهش نابرابری یکی از مسئولیت‌های خطیر دولت‌ها در عرصه اقتصادی و اجتماعی محسوب می‌شود. اثربخشی سیاست‌های دولت در کاستن از نابرابری به کیفیت نهادی در عرصه اجرایی و میزان مشارکت، شایستگی و توانمندی افراد بستگی دارد. بخشی از نابرابری‌های اقتصادی و اجتماعی، منطقه‌ای است. نابرابری منطقه‌ای از مزیت‌ منطقه‌ای در اثرگذاری بر رشد، تخصص‌گرایی، درجه تمرکز، تخصیص منابع دولتی و جهت‌گیری کلان آمایش سرزمین در تعیین اولویت‌های سرمایه‌گذاری اثر می‌پذیرد. این پژوهش وضعیت نابرابری در استان‌های ایران و دستاوردهای آن را ارزیابی کرده است. برای این منظور، سیاست‌های اجرایی دولت در نیل به توسعه متوازن و رفع عدم تعادل‌های منطقه‌ای به منظور کاهش نابرابری استانی در دوره 1390 تا 1398 بر اساس الگوی ویلیامسون و تایل برآورد و دستاورد سیاست‌گذاری و اقدامات اجرایی دولت در کاستن از نابرابری ارزیابی شده است. برآوردها نشان می‌دهد که تخصیص منابع دولتی در قالب مخارج سرمایه‌ای و هزینه‌ای دولت در برخی استان‌ها موجب کاهش نابرابری و در برخی استان‌ها موجب افزایش آن شده است. به عبارت دیگر، کارایی مخارج دولتی در کاهش نابرابری در برخی استان‌ها دارای کارایی و در برخی فاقد کارایی لازم بوده است.

an analysis of inequality in iran’s provinces (orientations and outcomes)

in this paper, attempts are made to empirically examine inequality in iran which has hindered the government to achieve a balanced provincial socio-economic development. income inequality affects economic growth sustainability through certain channels such as different saving rates of people, incentives to work hard, political instability and other factors as a whole. the effectiveness of government policies to address a balanced and an equitable development needs of each province depends mainly on quality of existing institutions, individual participation and their capabilities to contribute to development effort in each province. inequality in provinces is partly due to regional inequality which in turn stems from unequitable provincial privilege to some resources, production specializations, the degree of centralization and unequitable budget allocation. in addition, the orientation and expenditure allocations mechanism pursued by government, if not rightly targeted, may affect spatial planning and economic growth which ultimately brings about inequality. in the present study, we examine how government policies have contributed (if any) to achieve the balanced growth objectives in order to decrease the existing provincial inequality gap. based on theil’s and williamsons indices, we estimated inequality coefficient in iran’s provinces for the period of 2000 to 2019. the findings in this research show that the policy measures adopted by government in some provinces, have had mixed consequences. for some provinces it has contained and reduced the inequality and for some other province it has worsened the inequality gap over the same period. based on theil’s index, inequality coefficient has increased in provinces such as tehran and some other relatively more developed provinces and for less developed provinces the index has decreased. government budget expenditures disbursed among various provinces have had a bearing on inequality through the provision of public physical investment, promoting education provision, expanding health care services and capacity building enhancement. introduction income inequality affects economic growth performance and create disparities among regions in a country. the income inequality gap among regions contribute to adverse outcomes resulting from economic growth. there are different arguments in this regard. one categories of views emphasize on negative aspects of income inequality and economic growth (alesina and rodrik (1994), persson and tabellini (1994)) li and zou (1998), amos (1988), barro (2000). the other one emphasizes on positive aspects of income inequality. the first view argues that income inequality encourages economic growth, because of effectiveness brought about by incentives, efforts made, skill level of individuals and household’s capabilities. it seems that part of inequality stems from regional disparities and non performing spatial policies. spatial inequality is the result of    economic and regional policy measures adopted by government. some contributing factors to inequality originate in leading economic sectors, and some other factor have roots in government policies and in growth leading provinces. from theoretical point of view, income inequality stems from political instability and income distribution channel affected by higher progressive income tax rates in order to finance regional equalization needs.(alesina and  rodrik, 1994,galor,2006). it’s obvious that regions undergoing economic development process with a time lag, will benefit from the policy experienced by others. kuznets (1955) determined the mutual relation between inequality and economic growth in inverted u shape in the state of economic development and williamson (1965) generalized it to regions. barrios and strobl (2009), lessmann (2014), lessmann and seidel (2017), neves (2016) concludes that in the higher phase of economic development the kuznets inverted u curve will take n shape.