Where can I find reliable economic data for Iran?

October 2, 2013 2:48 PM

I'd really like to write a paper exploring the macroeconomic effects of the Iran sanctions for a grad-level class, which requires some analysis of raw data. However, official data sources are obviously unreliable and I'm not having much luck finding unbiased unofficial data, gah. Does anyone have any ideas of potential data sources? I have access to a good academic library. Thanks!
posted by superquail to Education (4 answers total)

Best answer: Have you asked your fine academic librarians? This is the kind of thing that many data librarians live for. We have a library devoted entirely to providing and sussing out data sets for researchers, so if your campus doesn't have people with that kind of skill set, maybe try someone at an affiliated institution.
posted by Madamina at 2:52 PM on October 2, 2013

Best answer: Start with the Economist Intelligence Unit and the CIA World Fact Book. Once you have that data, talk to your reference librarian to round out your sources and fill in the blanks (if there are any left after EIU and CIA).
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 3:06 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: An Iran economy expert like Djavad Salehi-Isfahani could probably point you in the right direction:

http://www.econ.vt.edu/faculty/facultybios/salehibio.htm
posted by NBelarski at 4:43 PM on October 2, 2013

Best answer: Standard sources that tend to aggregate information - like the EIU or the CIA World Factbook - tend not to be any good on "difficult" countries. They typically draw their info from the last available national statistics and so will either have gaps, no coverage, or dated information.

Official aggregating sources like the World Bank or the UN either take information from National Statistical Offices or - especially in the case of sociodemographic data between censuses - conduct their own surveys.

In short: the National Statistical Office, biased or not, is probably still the best place for economic data. In order to get that data you have to conduct primary research and in order to conduct the primary research you need to have access to the country. The access is the problem. This rules out most third parties although you do see some academic primary research conducted by Iranian academics on economic issues.

Over and above that I would point you to the International Iranian Economic Association and specifically within that specialists at SOAS. SOAS ran a conference this year on the Iranian Economy and is perhaps the best focal point for the limited cooperation between Iran-based academics and Iran-facing academics based outside the country.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:45 AM on October 3, 2013