ABSTRACT
By late 1973, Iran was in a particularly advantageous position, as developing countries in the postwar period go. For Iran, the Tehran Oil Agreements of December 1973 must be seen as an external shock to the national entity. In the face of an increasingly complex economy, whose efficiency requirements would be best met by an increasing delegation of authority at all levels, the confidence factor's effect was to reduce such delegation because the shah relied increasingly on his own decision-making powers. Writing in Tehran in 1975, Firouz Vakil said Oil revenues may well be a mixed blessing, depending on the size of the annual liquidity injections relative to the availability of complementary factors of production. To institute price controls and to implement its antiprofiteermg campaign, the Commerce Ministry published official price lists and then hired university students to go out into the marketplace for verification. Shortages became more evident as importers refused to import at controlled prices.
