The effect of sanctions against Iran on the Gini coefficient and the average income of different income quintiles in Iran

Improper distribution of income is one of the factors that weakens economic justice and affects poverty, which is influenced by the state of macroeconomic variables. According to the theoretical literature of the subject, economic sanctions are among the components that affect the economic activity of individuals, households and companies. This research has been written with the aim of investigating the effect of sanctions on the Gini coefficient and the income of the quintiles in Iran. The investigated time period is between the years 1991 and 2019, and the autoregressive interval distribution model (ARDL) was used to analyze the data. The independent variables of the research include real per capita production, real cash subsidy, sanctions index and sanctions index after the JCPOA. The research results show that according to the economic structure of the country in the past years, sanctions have increased the Gini coefficient in the long term. Also, real per capita production and real cash subsidy have been effective in improving the Gini coefficient. The analysis of income quintiles shows that real per capita production is effective in improving their income. The effect of the real cash subsidy was significant and positive only in the first quintile and did not have a significant effect in the other quintiles.