Evaluation of the effect of policy regime shifts in Iranian Distributional changes using a Micro Simulation Framework

Improvement in incomes distribution has been one of the major targets of Iranian policy makers; however, during 1991 to 2004, policy regimes have shifted frequently, and evaluation of the effect of policy regime shifts in Iran’s distributional changes due to these policy regime shifts could be illuminating. In this paper, we’ve established a method which computes the effect of policy regime shifts in households’ and individuals’ incomes. This method is based on a micro simulation framework developed by Bourguignon and Ferreira in 2004; moreover, we benefited from work by Heckman on Sample Selection Bias. Finally, we have compared two successive years on each instance of policy shift. Results of micro-simulation show Iranian distributive policies wouldn’t have expected effects to higher and lower deciles of incomes; in other words, government attempts in equalizing incomes haven’t met their aim.