نادر مهرگان

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sustainable rural quality of life index in Iran during the period of 1991-2016 and to measure the effects of various government investments on this index. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from the Statistics Center, the Central Bank and the World Bank. The value of the quality of life indicator was calculated using the software Eviews during the course of the study. The effect of independent research variables including government investment in agriculture, education, health, and rural development using the ARDL model in Microfit software is estimated. Finding: The results of the model estimation in the short run indicate that every 1 percent increase in government investment in agricultural sectors was 0.55 percent, health and treatment 0.54 percent, education 31.3 percent, increase the quality of life respectively. But investment in rural development does not affect quality of life in the short term but investment in rural life does not affect in the short term. In the long run, every 1% increase in investment in agricultural sectors is 0.65%, health and treatment 0.64%, education 45.0% and 32% in rural development in improving quality of life and its sustainability respectively. Research limitations/implications: Access to statistics is very difficult and has been obtained through reviewing all budget rules for the research courses. Practical implications: Strategy for employment to villagers with the support of public policy, based on qualify for investment, jobs, and services in rural areas contributes to the strengthening of agriculture, the changes in agricultural production and natural resources, the creation of jobs in non-farm income and as a result, the increased demand for local agricultural and non-agricultural products. Originality/value: Considering sustainable factors in evaluating quality of life and the effect of government investment in rural life by the applied method are the advantages of this study that has not been studied in previous studies.

This paper investigates the key factors affecting the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to deve­­loping countries during the period (1995-2010) with emphasis on the financial development. Financial development, as an important factor in FDI absorption and a prerequisite for utilizing the benefits of FDI, not only increases the FDI inflow in developing countries, but also improve the absorption capacity and ability of these countries to utilize the benefits of FDI. Since the financial system consists of several components and provides a variety of services, various indicators, which represent the development of different aspects and components of financial system, have been applied in order to assess the impact of financial development on the FDI. Results indicate that development of various components of financial system (stock market and banking sector) as well as different aspects of financial development (size and activity level of financial system) all have positive and significant impact on the FDI inflow in developing countries during the studied period.