Agricultural Policies and Regional Disparities in the Third World: The Case of Iran

This article is concerned with the spatial side effects of the efficiency- oriented sectoral economic policies in Third World countries. Taking the case of Iran as an example, the arti cle demonstrates that during the 1949-1978 period, Iran's efficiency- oriented agricultural policies rein forced the problem of provincial dis parities by favoring the development of a few more-developed provinces to the neglect of the rest of Iran. But since the 1979 revolution, Iran's ag ricultural policies have had a favor able impact on the less-developed provinces as evidenced by a slight decline in the interprovincial dispari ties between 1976 and 1984. The ar ticle concludes that in Third World countries, national spatial develop ment cannot be separated from con siderations of national sectoral policies.