Ma`rifat Eqtesadi

One of the aspects of economic sanctions that can be examined is the assessment of its effect on the economic complexity index, as one of the important indicators in determining the economic rank of countries at the international level. This article examines the causal relationship between economic sanctions and economic complexity in Iran. The main research question is whether the relationship between sanctions and economic complexity in Iran is bidirectional? To answer this question, we used the econometric autoregressive (VAR) model and factor analysis to analyze time series data. The research findings show that among the three main indicators indicating economic sanctions, the export goods price index is the cause of the economic complexity index at a confidence level of 90 percent; that is, as sanctions increase, economic complexity decreases. However, the reverse relationship does not exist, and there is no relationship between other indicators of sanctions and economic complexity, which may be due to Iran's low rank in the economic complexity index.