ژاله زارعی

This paper presents a framework for assessing the fiscal condition index (FCI) and develops a concept to assess fiscal condition of governments and implements it into Iran government as an oil exporting country. The concept consists of four dimensions -revenue, expenditure, budget balance, and debt structure-and each dimension has its own indicators. There are seven indicators examined namely expenditure to GDP ratio, non-oil revenue to total revenue ratio, public debt to GDP ratio, non-oil balance to non-oil GDP ratio, oil revenue to total revenue ratio, capital expenditure to total expenditure ratio , and overall budget balance to GDP ratio. Assessing cycle of fiscal indicators shows that these indicators have been pro-cyclical individually. Then, fiscal policy not only doesn’t have stabilizing role in macroeconomic conditions, but also increases the macroeconomic fluctuations. Likewise, the results indicate that Iran’s fiscal condition index is very volatile and pro-cyclical. Also, assessing this index demonstrate that Iran’s government has experienced fiscal health in 2003, 2006, and 2008. However, it has been in fiscal stress in 2012 and 2013. Iran’s governments did not have fiscal policy discipline in the period 1990-2011. This is because the oil price is the leading indicator of fiscal condition index. In addition, sanction is one of the reasons that caused decrease of FCI in 2010-2012. JEL Classifications: H70, H61, H63, H20

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of Intellectual Capital (IC) and its components on financial performance of Iranian banks accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The financial performances were measured by return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), assets turnover (ATO), and book to market ratio (MB). This research covers 14 banks listed in TSE over the period 2004 - 2013 and use VAIC method as a quantifiable measure to assess the intellectual capital and its components. The result of regression analysis shows that structural capital and human capital efficiency have positive and significant effects on banks' financial performance. Also, the first lag of physical capital efficiency has positive and significant effect on ROA, ROE, and ATO, but, its effect on MB is not significant. Finally, estimations show that the effect of IC on the financial performance of banks is positive and significant. JEL Classifications: E03, E22, E44