Historical Studies

Historical Studies

Cliometric analysis of the Effect of the Economic Performance of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's Government on the Changes in Society from 1340 to 1357

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
1 MA in History of Islamic Iran, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate Professor of History of Iran after Islam, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
3 Assistant Professor of History of Iran after Islam, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Abstract
During his 37 reigns, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi formulated his economic performance in the form of five construction plans. These programs started seriously in 1327 and will end in 1356. In these programs, the most efforts of the government towards important developments such as: agriculture, industries and mines, transportation, communications and telecommunications, gas and oil, electricity, water, education, health and treatment, urban and rural development, construction And housing, culture and tourism, insurance and social welfare, environment, statistics and survey of regional construction were influential. Therefore, the consequences of these programs are examined. Investigating oil revenues, which was the independent and main variable of the entire economic, social and political fabric of Iran in the second Pahlavi era, is an important topic of the present research. On the other hand, allocating financial resources to the army, which caused the economic quality to become unbalanced, is one of the things that is emphasized in this research. This article aims to evaluate this issue with a descriptive-analytical approach.
Keywords: Mohammadreza Pahlavi, Construction Plans, Economy, Oil Revenues, Army.
Introduction
In the 1920s, with the fall of Reza Shah's rule and World War II, numerous political, social, economic and cultural problems arose in Iran, and the daily living conditions of the people suffered catastrophic damage. One of the most important issues was that the economic situation was very chaotic. Therefore, the young Shah pursued the idea of modernization and development more persistently and implemented important economic programs in Iran. During his reign, Mohammad Reza Shah prepared five economic development programs, the main goal of which was to completely change Iranian society from an economically, socially, culturally and even politically backward country to an advanced one. These programs brought about the most profound economic and social changes and completely transformed the face of Iranian society, affecting various aspects of the lives of the Iranian people and leading to important consequences and achievements. However, in some economic sectors, the desired results were not achieved.
 
Materials & method
The present study was conducted based on the objective of historical analysis and descriptive and analytical methods were used in it. The method and data collection in this study are library-based and were collected and analyzed by studying and examining books and memoirs of political figures and written historical documents.
 
Discussion & Result
The first development planning in Iran was proposed during the reign of Reza Shah. But this program did not achieve any results (Ghani-Nejad, 2016: 239). Therefore, the possibility of implementing economic programs was provided during the second Pahlavi period. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi implemented his economic programs in the form of five development programs, which began in 1948 and ended in 1977 (Qasemi, 2019: 13-14).
Since 1941, the issue of economic planning was not considered due to the war conditions in Iran and the departure of Reza Shah. However, with the end of the war, the need for economic planning to improve the economic situation was strongly felt, and the government put the idea of repairing and developing the country's economy on its agenda (Ghani-Nejad, 2016: 241-240).
In 1946, the first meeting of the Supreme Economic Council was held under the chairmanship of Ahmad Qavam, and the establishment of a board to prepare a reform and development plan for the country was formed to prepare a multi-year plan based on the proposal (Tawfiq, 1970: 15) of the Ministry of Finance (Sakma, 2000/297: 2) and the development plans, which included two parts of economic and social reforms, were approved by the parliament (Erozi, 1992: 315). The purpose of implementing these plans was to create the necessary infrastructure for industrializing the country, mechanizing agriculture, expanding communications, expanding the service sector, and social development through expanding education, healthcare, and improving living standards in Iranian cities and villages (Izadi and Heydar Pourainanloo, 2015: 2).
 
Conclusion
Before the economic programs began during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country's economic situation after World War II was not good and people were living in difficult conditions. Therefore, the government started development programs in the country. The formation of the Planning Organization represented an important transformation in the field of economic, social, cultural and even political issues. Therefore, the economic programs from 1948 to 1978 should be considered an important transformation that greatly affected the lives of the people and laid the foundations for the progress of Iranian society. The importance of this issue increases when we understand that this economic progress was due to strong oil revenues and is considered the main reason for the development of economic programs. The oil element began to affect Iranian society in the late 1950s and took Iran from a backward society to an advanced society within two decades. However, on the other hand, the effects of these revenues could not easily end and there was a possibility of the collapse of the programs. On the other hand, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's desire for power to spend military budgets had a negative impact on the economy, and the high military spending disrupted planning forecasts. Overall, economic development programs achieved relatively good results in all sectors and these programs increased life expectancy, but the continuation of these programs led to the fall of the government due to domestic and international conditions at the end of the second Pahlavi period.
Keywords

Subjects


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Volume 16, Issue 1 - Serial Number 31
Spring and Summer 2025-2026
April 2025
Pages 287-322

  • Receive Date 27 October 2023
  • Revise Date 27 June 2024
  • Accept Date 29 October 2024