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Prof. Dr. Mohammad R. Farzanegan

Economics of the Middle East
Deutschhausstraße 12, 35032 Marburg
Phone: +49 (0) 6421-28-24955
Email: farzanegan[at]staff.uni-marburg.de

Mohammad Reza Farzanegan is Professor of the Economics of Middle East at the interdisciplinary Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS). His main research interest concerns the political economy of natural resources, demographic transition, sanctions and the role of political and economic institutions in the economic growth-resource rents nexus with reference to the Middle East.

Middle East is not only the home of rich resources (oil) but is experiencing a significant increase in the size of the working age population. Countries in this region were not successful to benefit from this demographic window of opportunity. Farzanegan's research aims to shed light on institutional reasons behind the disappointing performance of resource rich countries in benefiting from their appropriate demographic structure.  His research aims to investigate the institutional reasons behind the curse of natural resources, and to examine how the balance of political power can affect the income and stability effects of natural resource wealth across countries. He also investigates the interaction of natural resources, demographic transition and political and economic institutions. In addition, he investigates how the quality of institutions can affect the allocation of economic resources in the shadow economy and illegal trade activities. Finally, his research aims to study the moderating role of political institutions with respect to negative externalities of economic growth on the environment.