The Iranian economy: past and present

Over the last forty years, the economic development of Iran may be seen as a tremendous mass of hopefulness that ultimately failed to materialize. After the national bourgeoisie was removed from power in 1953 and a foreign capitalist class took over, the path of underdevelopment was the one trodden down. There is now no going back. Under the rule of the shah, there was much growth but also underdevelopment. Income distribution was increasingly less equitable. There were growing discrepencies between rural and urban standards of living. There was a low level of education, an inadequate supply of food, and an inadequate supply of electricity. If oil income is taken out of the picture, the per-capita GNP of the nation was remarkably low. In fact, 72% of government funds came through oil at the time the shah fell. The ratio of military imports from the US to oil sales to that country was greater than two. The non-oil exports in 1978 were identical to the country's exports decade