Dear colleague:

On behalf of the Conference Organizing Committee, we would like to inform you of the Conference on “Iranian Economy at a Crossroads: Domestic and Global Challenges”. The Conference will be held on September 18-19, 2009 at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA.

The Conference focuses on the changing role of Iran in the Middle East and the global economy, and considers the evolution of the Iranian economy, the development of its various product and factor markets and the institutional framework within which these operate.  In particular, it explores the interrelated issues of domestic economic development, trade, capital and labor movements, financial asset position, and the country’s opportunities and constraints to both the domestic and international levels. A wide range of issues will be covered, ranging from social policy and welfare, causes and consequences of rising inflation and unemployment, political economy of policy making and economic reforms, developments and problems in the agricultural, industrial, energy (oil, gas and nuclear) and services sectors, the role of formal and informal economic institutions (including the bazaar and bonyads), the growing trade, service and other links between Iran and the countries of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, especially Dubai, the relevance of WTO membership, the vagaries of international oil markets, economic sanctions and their effects. It also will discuss actual and suggested alternative mechanisms for resolving international tensions among the major economic and political players in Iran and the West.

Several speakers have already been invited to present keynote papers on different aspects of the Iranian economy, including, Jahangir Amuzegar, Fereidoun Fesharaki, Hassan Hakimian, Ahmad Jalali-Naini, Massoud Karshenas, Hashem Pesaran, Muhammad Sahimi, Hadi Salehi Esfahani, and Djavad Salehi-Isfahani. We would like to invite you to respond to the Conference Call for Papers by sending us a complete paper or a paper proposal on any of the conference themes.  We would also appreciate suggestions of others to whom the Call for Papers should be extended. All proposals will be reviewed within four weeks of submission. Full details of the Conference, including a list of the prominent themes for the Conference, the Organizing Committee members and an online proposal submission form are to be found at the Conference website: http://college.usc.edu/Conferences/Iran.  Please bookmark the Conference website for further information. The site is regularly updated.

The Conference will cover the air travel and lodging expenses for speakers whose papers are selected for presentation.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us for an intellectually stimulating Conference.

Please note the deadline:

For submission of completed draft: June 1st, 2009

For those who already have a paper available addressing one or more of the themes (or variations thereon), please send it electronically to Dr. Farideh Motamedi at fmotamed@usc.edu, at your earliest convenience. Also, please note that the complete drafts of written papers should not exceed 40 pages including tables, and bibliography.

If you have any inquiries regarding this Conference, please send them to Dr. Farideh Motamedi at fmotamed@usc.edu.

Yours Sincerely,

Hashem Pesaran
Chair of the Scientific Committee