IInvestigating Qajar’s economic problems from the three booklets' perspective

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 esearcher, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Science and Economics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Science and Economics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

It is common to investigate Mashruteh’s era via the books and papers of those known as “intellectuals”. However, there are other booklets whose authors can be categorized as intellectual. The importance of these booklets is that their authors are not influenced by the new ideas which were pervasive in Europe and they are simply the description of the society in that period. Hence, they are good sources to obtain firsthand information about the different aspects of Iran’s society in the Qajar era. In this paper three booklets, the “Qazvini booklet”, “Majdiyeh booklet”, and “Suggested booklet of a Diwani”, from the economic point of view are investigated. Our study shows that from the first two booklets the lack of bread, the chaotic situation of the military members, and the senselessness of the property rights were important issues and the third booklet emphasized the military problem too. But another important issue that is described in the “Suggested booklet of a Diwani” is the story of the unsuccessful attempt of the government to establish factories that are not compatible with the resources of Iran. Based on the discussion of the author, this problem arises because Iran did not have a comparative advantage in producing those products. Generally, the results show that the economic problems that were discussed in those booklets had a unique root, the senselessness of property rights.

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References

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International Political Economy Studies
Volume 8, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
September 2025
Pages 239-270

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History

  • Receive Date: 08 September 2024
  • Revise Date: 08 November 2024
  • Accept Date: 10 January 2025

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