Al-Monitor | Bijan Khajehpour: While the Iranian rial has appreciated in recent days, its drop in value of more than 50%�since March has undermined the country�s economic well-being and led to popular protests. Some experts have pointed to sanctions, internal mismanagement and political uncertainties as�the causes of the�massive devaluation. Others have underlined that the huge differential between the official and open market exchange rates allows�for corrupt practices centered around state structures.


There is, however, another�dimension to developments on the foreign exchange market:�Iran's political economy. In this regard, one should ask�which segments of society lose out and�who wins, and what do economic shifts mean for political power in the country?


For the past four decades, the overall pattern of the Islamic Republic�s political economy has focused on shifting wealth and economic assets from society to the state as a whole, in particular�to economic interest groups. These shifts have taken place through dispossession and�confiscation of the assets of various social groups, waves of privatization in which state assets have mainly been transferred to the semi-state sector, corruption emanating from the two-tiered exchange rate system, massive embezzlement, commoditization of natural resources, sanctions busting, smuggling�and�financial corruption.

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