Which is the direction of Iran's development? Related or unrelated diversification?

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Although the analysis of paths and factors of countries development has always been a field of interest for researchersAlthough the analysis of the causes, factors and  features of the countries’ development pathways has always been a field of interest for researchers, only in recent years, researchers have sought to quantify the distinctive attributes of national development pathways. One of the innovative approaches developed to this end, is entitled “Economic Complexity Atlas”. Based on the assumption that most of the developed countries have pursuit the pathway of related diversification for economic growth, that is, moving towards industries similar to their existing industries, it maintains that, there are a few countries which have taken advantage of unrelated diversity for their development. The question is what has been the development path of Iran? Using related or unrelated diversification? To answer these questions, the present article examines 92 countries and 727 products from 1962 to 2016, to, identify, first, the unrelated development paths of the countries and second, through analytical comparison, to gain a better understanding of the path pursued by Iran. The results showed that the focus on industries such as the oil and mining industry, which is one of the primary industries on the one hand, and the small number of unrelated products on the other hand, has caused Iran to be trapped in the industries that rely mainly on natural resources; therefore, it cannot move toward the path with more diverse products.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Bahar, D., Hausmann, R., & Hidalgo, C. A. (2014). Neighbors and the evolution of the comparative advantage of nations: Evidence of international knowledge diffusion? Journal of International Economics92(1), 111-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2013.11.001
Balland, P. A., Jara-Figueroa, C., Petralia, S. G., Steijn, M. P., Rigby, D. L., & Hidalgo, C. A. (2020). Complex economic activities concentrate in large cities. Nature Human Behaviour4(3), 248-254. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0803-3
Boschma, R., & Frenken, K. (2011). Technological relatedness and regional branching. In H. Bathelt, M. P.  Feldman, & D. F. Kogler (Eds.), Beyond Territory. Dynamic Geographies of Knowledge Creation, Diffusion, and Innovation (pp. 64-81). Routledge.
Boschma, R., Minondo, A., & Navarro, M. (2013). The emergence of new industries at the regional level in Spain: A proximity approach based on product relatedness. Economic Geography, 89, 29–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-8287.2012.01170.x
Boschma, R., & Capone, G. (2016). Relatedness and diversification in the European Union (EU-27) and European Neighbourhood Policy countries. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy34(4), 617-637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263774x15614729
Boschma, R. (2017). Relatedness as driver of regional diversification: A research agenda. Regional Studies51(3), 351-364. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2016.1254767
Boschma, R., Coenen, L., Frenken, K., & Truffer, B. (2017). Towards a theory of regional diversification: Combining insights from evolutionary economic geography and transition studies. Regional studies51(1), 31-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2016.1258460
Colombelli, A., Krafft, J., & Quatraro, F. (2014). The emergence of new technology-based sectors in European regions: A proximity-based analysis of nanotechnology. Research Policy43(10), 1681-1696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.07.008
Content, J., & Frenken, K. (2016). Related variety and economic development: A literature review. European Planning Studies, 24(12), 2097-2112. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2016.1246517
Farinha, T., Balland, P. A., Morrison, A., & Boschma, R. (2019). What drives the geography of jobs in the US? Unpacking relatedness. Industry and Innovation26(9), 988-1022. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2019.1591940
Hartmann, D., Bezerra, M., & Pinheiro, F. L. (2019). Identifying smart strategies for economic diversification and inclusive growth in developing economies. The case of Paraguay. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3346790
Hausmann, R., & Klinger, B. (2007). The structure of the product space and the evolution of comparative advantage. CID Working Paper Series. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.939646
Hausmann, R., & Hidalgo, C. A. (2010). Country diversification, product ubiquity, and economic divergence [HKS Working Paper Series RWP10-045]. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1724722
Hausmann, R., & Hidalgo, C. A. (2011). The network structure of economic output. Journal of Economic Growth16(4), 309-342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-011-9071-4
Hausmann, R., Hidalgo, C. A., Bustos, S., Coscia, M., Simoes, A., & Yildirim, M. A. (2014). The atlas of economic complexity: Mapping paths to prosperity. Mit Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9647.001.0001
He, C., Yan, Y., & Rigby, D. (2018). Regional industrial evolution in China. Papers in Regional Science, 97(2), 173-198. https://doi.org/10.1111/pirs.12246
Hidalgo, C. A., Klinger, B., Barabási, A.-L., & Hausmann, R. (2007). The product space conditions the development of nations. Science, 317(5837), 482-487. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1144581
Hidalgo C & Hausmann R. (2009). The building blocks of economic complexity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(26), 10570–10575. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900943106 
Hidalgo, C. A., Balland, P. A., Boschma, R., Delgado, M., Feldman, M., Frenken, K., Glaeser, E., He, C., Kogler, D. F., Morrison, A., Neffke, F., Rigby, D., Stern, S., Zheng, S., & Zhu, S. (2018). The principle of relatedness. In A. Morles, C. Gershenson, D. Braha, A. Minai, & Y. Bar-Yam (Eds.), Unifying Themes in Complex Systems IX. ICCS 2018. Springer Proceedings in Complexity (pp. 451-457). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96661-8_46)
International Labour Office. (2010). A skilled workforce for strong, sustainable and balanced growth: A G20 training strategy. http://www.ilo.org/skills/what/pubs/lang--en/docName--WCMS_151966/index.htm
Jun, B., Alshamsi, A., Gao, J., & Hidalgo, C. A. (2017). Relatedness, knowledge diffusion, and the evolution of bilateral trade. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3037720
Kogler, D. F., Rigby, D. L., & Tucker, I. (2013). Mapping knowledge space and technological relatedness in US cities. European Planning S). tudies21(9), 1374-1391. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2012.755832
Kock, C. J., & Guillén, M. F. (2001). Strategy and structure in developing countries: Business groups as an evolutionary response to opportunities for unrelated diversification. Industrial and corporate change10(1), 77-113. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/10.1.77
Petralia, S., Balland, P. A., & Morrison, A. (2017). Climbing the ladder of technological development. Research Policy46(5), 956-969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.03.012
Pinheiro, F. L., Alshamsi, A., Hartmann, D., Boschma, R., & Hidalgo, C. (2018). Shooting low or high: Do countries benefit from entering unrelated activities? Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography, 18(07). https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/eguwpaper/1807.htm
Saviotti, P. P., & Frenken, K. (2008). Export variety and the economic performance of countries. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 18, 201–218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-007-0081-5
Shahmoradi, B., & Samandar Ali Eshtheardi, M. (2018). Investigating the status of Iran's technological
competitiveness in the region, based on the economic complexity approach [In Persian]. Journal of Science & Technology Policy, 11(1), 29-38. https://jstp.nrisp.ac.ir/article_13663.html
Tanner, A. N. (2014). Regional branching reconsidered: Emergence of the fuel cell industry in European regions. Economic Geography90(4), 403-427. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecge.12055
Tanner, A. N. (2016). The emergence of new technology-based industries: The case of fuel cells and its
technological relatedness to regional knowledge bases. Journal of Economic Geography, 16(3), 611-635. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbv011
The world Bank. )2021). The World Bank in Mexico. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/mexico/overview
Toner, P. (2011). Workforce skills and innovation: An overview of major themes in the literature [OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 2011/01]. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/5kgkdgdkc8tl-en
Xiao, J., Boschma, R., & Andersson, M. (2018). Industrial diversification in Europe: The differentiated role of relatedness. Economic geography, 94(5), 514-549. https://doi.org/10.1080/00130095.2018.1444989
Zhu, S., He, C., & Zhou, Y. (2017). How to jump further and catch up? Path-breaking in an uneven industry space. Journal of Economic Geography17(3), 521-545. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbw047