---

In the economic literature, decentralization theories are considered as promoting Governments productivity and efficiency and establishing regional balances. Decentralization is also a basic tool for shaping a market-based economy in developing economies. This paper reviews the economic performance of fiscal decentralization and its effect on economic variables. Despite criticisms on the implication of fiscal decentralization polices in developing and transition economies, many economists believe that fiscal decentralization policies implicitly affect economic growth and show that fiscal decentralization may affect economic growth through the impact of fiscal decentralization on economic efficiency, regional distribution of resources, macroeconomic stability and democratic Governments.

---

In the last two decades, numerous theoretical and experimental researches have been conducted to study the asymmetric effects of monetary policies on real variables. Some New Keynesian economists believe that monetary policies can produce asymmetric effects on gross domestic production. In this paper, we analyze the asymmetric effects of monetary policies on production in Iran, in the time period 1959-2008. We use non-linear smooth transition autoregressive and logistic transition function models and for estimation we use nonlinear least squares estimator and Newton- Raphson algorithm. Our results show that the non-linear model fits better than the linear model and the effects of monetary policies on gross domestic production in two cases of low and high growth rates of oil income are different. In the studied period, expansionary monetary policies under the low growth rate of oil income increased the production more than in the case of high growth rate of oil income. Also, private investment and government expenditures in low growth rate of oil income situation increased the production more than in the case of high growth rate of oil income.

---

Some economists believe that monetary policy changes only the nominal variables and has no effect on the real variables.  In contrast, some economists believe that under some circumstances monetary policy, in addition to the nominal variables, increases the real variables in the short term and, in some cases, even in the long term. Since 1990s numerous theoretical and empirical studies have been conducted to examine the asymmetric effects of monetary policy on real variables.  Some New Keynesian economists believe that monetary policy can produce asymmetric effects on gross domestic product.  This paper analyzes the asymmetric effects of monetary policy on gross domestic product in Iran during 1959-2010. We use the RESET tests, Terasvirta (1998), Terasvirta and Anderson (1992), Terasvirta (1993), Nonlinear Smooth Transition Autoregressive and logistic transition function models, and use oil income and private sector investment growth rates as the transition variables with one lag. For estimating the 4-state Smooth Transition Autoregressive Model, we use the non-linear least squares and Genetic Algorithm. We find that the effect of monetary policy on gross domestic product is asymmetric in the studied period. The Multiple Regime Smooth Transition Autoregressive Model reveals 4 different business cycle states in Iran. Monetary coefficients are different in these states and the largest coefficient appears in recessions with declining economy, while the smallest coefficient belongs to booms with decreasing growth rates.

---

Regarding the recent financial and banking crisis, corporate governance has gained a more important role on firms and financial institutes' success. Investigating the reasons for the failure of several firms and big banks, which has caused great losses for shareholders, shows that these losses are mostly due to weak corporate governance structures in these organizations. In order to answer the questions about the quality and quantity of the relationship between corporate governance and banking sector indices, we use panel data regression for a sample, including 15 selected banks from developing (D8) and developed (G7) countries during 2005 to 2014. In order to check the reliability of the estimated parameters, we used F-test and to choose between random or fixed effect models, we used Hausman test. The results confirm that corporate governance measures have a positive and significant impact on selected banks' profitability indices. It is also notable that the magnitude of estimators and their level of significance are different between developing (D8) and developed (G7) countries.
 
 

---

The global financial crisis in 2007 showed that financial variables from different channels could exacerbate business cycle fluctuations. From the perspective of modeling in the economy, the models that assumed financial markets without friction lost their credibility. Accordingly, the correct response of the monetary authorities to the financial cycles has become one of the theoretical and political concerns. Therefore, the present study examines the effects of the central bank's reaction to financial cycles during the period of 1369:1 to 1395:4 implementing several counterfactual simulations within the framework of the New Keynesian model. The results in different scenarios indicated that the more sensitive the central bank is to the financial cycle, the output will have less affects by financial shocks. However, inflation will respond to the shock of the financial sector with more fluctuations; therefore, it seems that monetary policy in Iran cannot reduce the effects of financial shock on macroeconomics solely through a change in the monetary base.