The Islamic revolution of 1979 heralded an expanded economic role for the Iranian state in safeguarding the revolution's redistributive aims. However, the Iranian economy in the 1980s and 1990s deteriorated markedly, and the state's enlarged role in the economy has been accompanied by acute macroeconomic instability and a sharp decline in the standard of living. This book of original essays identifies the principal issues, social, economic, and political, that have shaped and determined Iran's economic performance since the revolution.