The Impact of Doing Business on the Industrial Economic Resilience in Iran's Provinces

Document Type : applicative

Authors

Associate Professor in Economics, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

10.30473/jier.2026.75271.1501

Abstract

In the current context, the national economy and its regional sectors are increasingly exposed to various economic and non-economic crises, leading to heightened vulnerability in economic structures. Economic experts and policymakers argue that the most effective strategy to mitigate the effects of these fluctuations and enhance economic stability is to improve resilience by identifying and managing key influencing factors. This issue has recently become a central focus of economic research and development planning.
The present study aims to examine the impact of the business environment on the economic resilience of the industrial sector in 28 Iranian provinces during two periods of recession and boom (2001–2012 and 2013–2021). For this purpose, the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model—which accounts for spatial heterogeneity in the industrial sector's resilience across provinces—was employed.
The estimation results and coefficient analysis reveal that the business environment had a positive and significant impact on the resilience of the industrial sector in 100% of provinces during 2001–2012 and 93% of provinces during 2013–2021. Additionally, the findings highlight the positive effects of human capital, social capital, transportation infrastructure, government expenditures, the concentration of industrial activities and diversification of economic activities on resilience.

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