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This paper examines the causal relationship between stock prices and macroeconomic aggregates in Iran, by applying the techniques of the long–run Granger non–causality test based on cointegration analysis. We test the causal relationships between the TEPIX Index and the four macroeconomic variables: money supply, GDP and exchange rate using quarterly data for the period 1370:1 to 1385:4. The results show unidirectional long run causality from macroeconomic variables to stock market. Accordingly, the stock prices are not a leading indicator for economic variables, which is inconsistent with the previous findings that the stock market rationally signals changes in real activities. Contrarily, the macro variables seem to lead stock prices. So, Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) is not informationally efficient.

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This paper studies the technical efficiency of branches of Refah Bank in Tehran Province in 1387 based on Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and Translog production function. The findings show that the branches of Milad and Social Securities have enjoyed the highest technical efficiency, getting to about 96 percent, standing as the reference set. The branch of Shush Square suffers from minimum technical efficiency, estimated about 29 percent. Moreover the average efficiency of north branches of Tehran is estimated 87 percent and the south ones 79 percent. Overall, the average level of technical efficiency of all branches is found to be 81 percent. So that Refah Bank branches could have produced 19 percent more output using the same level of the inputs just by improving the combination of inputs without any increasing needed. The elasticity of output with respect to labor with higher education is 0.39 having contributed to output much more than other inputs.

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   This article seeks to answer the following four questions: How much is the value added of visual arts in Iran? How many are the number of direct employment in the visual arts? How much is the cost of creating a job opportunity in this section? Is this section profitable economically? If the answer is yes, how many percent is the average annual profit rate? In this study, data analysis was done by descriptive-analytic method. To collect the required data, in addition to studying available resources, financial information of 10 active galleries in Tehran has been collected and analyzed through in-depth interviews. According to the findings, the number of employees and the contribution of the value added of visual arts in the country's economy is negligible, but the rate of profitability in this area is positive and more than 22%, and the cost of creating an employment opportunity in this section is estimated at less than 15 million tomans. Given the positive rate of profit and being the low cost of creating job opportunities in visual arts, it seams encouraging the private sector to invest in this area, in addition to creating cultural value, leads to increased employment at a lower cost, and this is the relative advantage of visual arts in creating low-cost job opportunities.