Mehrdad Vahabi (born 1963) is an Iranian professor of Economics at

Université Sorbonne Paris Nord Sorbonne Paris North University () is a public university based in Paris, France. It is one of the thirteen universities that succeeded the University of Paris in 1968. It is a multidisciplinary university located in north of Paris, in the munici ...

(Paris) and director of Centre d'Economie Paris Nord-CEPN.

Biography

Vahabi was born in 1963 in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. He completed his higher education first in the United States and then in France. In 1981 he received his Bachelor from

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, and then in October 1993 he received his PhD in Economics from

Paris 7 University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Diderot merged with Paris ...

on ''La pensée économique de

János Kornai János Kornai (21 January 1928 – 18 October 2021) was a Hungarian economist noted for his analysis and criticism of the command economies of Eastern European communist states. He also covered macroeconomic aspects in countries undergoing pos ...

(1955-1984) : de la réforme de l'économie socialiste à la théorie de l'économie de pénurie''. After that he received his ''Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches'' (HDR) from Université Paris 1 on ''Les modes de coordination et les institutions: vers une approche dynamique''. He is currently a professor of Economics in Sorbonne Paris North University (Paris 13) and the director of Centre d'Economie Paris Nord-CEPN, an affiliation of

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

Works

In his book ''The Political Economy of Predation'' (2016), which stands at the crossroad of

Public Choice Public choice, or public choice theory, is "the use of economic tools to deal with traditional problems of political science."Gordon Tullock, 9872008, "public choice," ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics''. . It includes the study of po ...

and

New institutional Economics New Institutional Economics (NIE) is an economic perspective that attempts to extend economics by focusing on the institutions (that is to say the social and legal norms and rules) that underlie economic activity and with analysis beyond earlier ...

, Vahabi relies on the concept of

predation Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

to revisit the analysis of the genesis of the state, states conflict and the transition from

autocracy Autocracy is a form of government in which absolute power is held by the head of state and Head of government, government, known as an autocrat. It includes some forms of monarchy and all forms of dictatorship, while it is contrasted with demo ...

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. His subsequent work, ''Destructive Coordination, Anfal and Islamic Political Capitalism: A New Reading of Contemporary Iran'' (2023), is a study of Islamic public finance that describes how ideology and politics enable institutions to emerge that contribute to perpetual crises. With focus on

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and a specific institution,

Anfal Al-Anfal (, ; The Spoils of War, Earnings, Savings, Profits) is the eighth chapter (sūrah) of the Quran, with 75 verses ( āyāt). Regarding the timing and contextual background of the revelation (''asbāb al-nuzūl''), it is a "Medinan su ...

Books

* * Reviews of ''Destructive Coordination, Anfal and Islamic Political Capitalism'': * Thierry Kirat (2023), ''Revue d'économie politique''

* Ilia Murtazashvili (2023), ''Public Choice'', * Reviews of ''The Political Economy of Predation'': *Wladimir Andreff (2016), "Prédation et développement", ''Revue Tiers Monde'', *Bernard Chavance (2016), "De la prédation et de la chasse à l’homme à l’anarchisme universel", ''Revue de la régulation'', *Bertrand Crettez (2016), ''Œconomia'', *Tarik Tazdaït (2017), "La chasse à l’homme et l’état prédateur", ''Cahiers d'économie politique'', *Renaud Bellais (2018), ''Defence and Peace Economics'', * Reviews of ''The Political Economy of Destructive Power'': *Bernard Chavance (2005), ''Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest'', *Kristian Skrede Gleditsch (2006), ''Journal of Peace Research'', *Wladimir Andreff (2007), ''Cahiers d'économie politique'',

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vahabi, Mehrdad Living people Iranian political writers Iranian fiction writers Iranian democracy activists Iranian expatriates in France University of Chicago alumni University of Paris alumni Iranian economists 1963 births