Journal of Economic Modeling Research

This study investigates the relation between bounced checks and economic growth through the banking credit risk channel by estimation of a simultaneous equation system with panel data for 31 Iranian provinces covers the years from 2011 to 2015. For this purpose, after identifying determinants of the bounced checks, the relations of this variable with the non-performing loans, banking loans and economic growth are evaluated. The results confirm the positive relationship between the bounced checks to GDP ratio and the prices index, whereas the impacts of output deviation from trend and the index of enforcement of laws on the bounced checks are negative. In times of stagflation, with the decreasing possibility of defaults, the bounced checks tend to grow. Also, with the development of legal and judicial system in the country with a view to boosting institutional and governance quality, the number of bounced checks decreases on the scale of economic activities. On the other hand, the number of bounced checks after fixing the control variables will lead to an increase of non-performing loans and the bank credit risk. Meanwhile the impact of bank loans on economic growth through the productivity channel is meaningful and positive. Therefore, in the Iranian economy the increase of bounced checks through the channel of bank loaning power will have a negative influence on economic growth.

Collective pension funds have many advantages including larger risk pool and the possibility of interpersonal and intergenerational risk sharing, as well as economies of scale and lower administrative costs. For decades, however, this has been achieved through mandatory participation, while this traditional and mandatory form of contribution is no longer commensurate with the future of work. In this regard, many countries have implemented a combinatorial policy in the form of auto-enrolment pensions and then the granting of opting out authority. However, the sustainability of these schemes will depend on people's motivation to participate or leave. This article tries to examine the motivations of individuals to exit the Iran Social Security Organization (ISSO) pension fund, assuming that the insureds are given the opportunity to opt out once in a certain time. For this purpose, the method of option pricing is used. Findings show that insureds will accept even a 60 percent deficit in fund’s long-term liabilities for the only reason to take advantage of investment income of their predecessors funds or interpersonal and intergenerational risk sharing. It was also observed that an increase in the funding ratio, lower liabilities, a rise in assets and a higher rate of return on investments encourage participation and reduce the incentive to exit. A decline in accrual rate, increase in the contribution rate, higher retirement age, accelerating the adjustment rate of fund deficit due to their detrimental effect on the insureds have a direct negative effect on the incentive to participate and stimulate withdrawal. It should be noted, however, that these factors will also reduce liabilities and increase the funding ratio, thereby contributing to the sustainability of the plan may ultimately reduce the exit incentives.

In this paper, in order to determine the optimal minimum wage policy in Iran, in the framework of the new Keynesian theory, a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model was estimated for a small and open oil-exporting economy, according to the structure of Iran's economy in the time range of 1190 to 2019. In this model, the nominal rigidity and work habits in the supply and demand sectors are considered, and in order to simulation the economic conditions of the country, meanwhile classify the labor market in two parts; the skilled  (whose maximizes its wage based on its utility) and  unskilled labor, the model has  considered to four parts. The main purpose of this study is to answer the question of determining and adjusting the annual minimum wage based on which of the indicators of inflation, the growth of the total wage and a combination of inflation indicators and productivity of production factors, in a situation where the economy is exposed to markup of wages and prices shocks, supply and the demand of the economy and monetary and financial policies, was optimal and it causes the least negative fluctuation (deviation) on macroeconomic variables including inflation, employment, production, consumption and investment. Based on this study, three scenarios were designed and the effect of minimum wage on economic variables was analyzed. The results of the simulation and estimation of this model, which indicate the matching of the moments of the simulated data with the real world data and based on calibration in all three scenarios, it shows that the selection sum of inflation growth  and the productivity indexes to adjust the minimum wage policy, although it has cyclical effects on inflation, in comparison to other scenarios, it has the least negative deviation on economic variables and can be used as an optimal indicator for choosing the minimum wage in the Supreme Labor Council of the country.