IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cid/wpfacu/338.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Autonomous Reform vs Global Isomorphism: Explaining Iran’s Success in Reducing Fertility

Author

Listed:
  • Lant Pritchett

    (Center for International Development at Harvard University)

  • Masoomeh Khandan

    (Center for Global Development)

Abstract

A long-standing literature in the sociology of organizations (e.g., DiMaggio and Powell 1983) suggests that, as change agents face uncertainty about actions and outcomes, they often seek legitimacy through isomorphism: adopting structures, policies and reforms similar (at least in appearance) to those deemed successful elsewhere. We examine history’s most rapid reduction of fertility—from 8.4 in 1985 to 2.4 in 2002, in rural Iran—as an example of successful autonomous reform. The Iranian state, which was self-consciously cut off from nearly all of the traditional vectors of global isomorphism, initiated a successful behavioral change in a domain (family planning) perhaps unexpected for an Islamic state. We describe and explain the Iranian approach, in particular the rural program, contrasting it with the global strategy of adopting universal "best practices."

Suggested Citation

  • Lant Pritchett & Masoomeh Khandan, 2017. "Autonomous Reform vs Global Isomorphism: Explaining Iran’s Success in Reducing Fertility," CID Working Papers 338, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cid:wpfacu:338
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/cid/files/publications/faculty-working-papers/Iran%20Fertility%20%20cidwp_338.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pritchett, Lant H. & DEC, 1994. "Desired fertility and the impact of population policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1273, The World Bank.
    2. Nava Ashraf & Erica Field & Jean Lee, 2014. "Household Bargaining and Excess Fertility: An Experimental Study in Zambia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2210-2237, July.
    3. Andrews, Matthew R., 2009. "Isomorphism and the Limits to African Public Financial Management Reform," Scholarly Articles 4415942, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    4. Ali Hashemi & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2013. "From Health Service Delivery to Family Planning: The Changing Impact of Health Clinics on Fertility in Rural Iran," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(2), pages 281-309.
    5. Deborah DeGraff, 1991. "Increasing contraceptive use in Bangladesh: The role of demand and supply factors," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(1), pages 65-81, February.
    6. Andrews, Matt, 2009. "Isomorphism and the Limits to African Public Financial Management Reform," Working Paper Series rwp09-012, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Baudin & David de la Croix & Paula Gobbi, 2020. "Endogenous Childlessness and Stages of Development," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 83-133.
    2. Matt Andrews, 2013. "Do International Organizations Really Shape Government Solutions in Developing Countries?," CID Working Papers 264, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    3. Isabel Günther & Kenneth Harttgen, 2016. "Desired Fertility and Number of Children Born Across Time and Space," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(1), pages 55-83, February.
    4. Troisi, Roberta, 2022. "Illegal land use by Italian firms: An empirical analysis through the lens of isomorphism," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    5. Peter Boulding & Andrew Mackie & Frans Ronsholt & Stephen Sharples, 2012. "New development: PEFA—what difference has it made?," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 41-44, January.
    6. Finlay, Jocelyn E., 2021. "Women’s reproductive health and economic activity: A narrative review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Andrews, Matt, 2013. "How Do Governments Get Great?," Working Paper Series rwp13-020, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    8. Lodewijk Smets & Stephen Knack, 2018. "World Bank Policy Lending and the Quality of Public-Sector Governance," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(1), pages 29-54.
    9. Negash, Minga & Lemma, Tesfaye T. & Samkin, Grant, 2019. "Factors impacting accounting research output in developing countries: An exploratory study," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 170-192.
    10. Miller, Grant & de Paula, Áureo & Valente, Christine, 2020. "Subjective Expectations and Demands for Contraception," CINCH Working Paper Series (since 2020) 73328, Duisburg-Essen University Library, DuEPublico.
    11. Andrews, Matt, 2013. "How Do Governments Become Great? Ten Cases, Two Competing Explanations, One Large Research Agenda," WIDER Working Paper Series 091, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Sonia Laszlo & Muhammad Farhan Majid & Laëtitia Renée, 2024. "Conditional cash transfers and women's reproductive choices," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), February.
    13. Jurgen Blum & Nick Manning & Vivek Srivastava, 2012. "Public Sector Management Reform : Toward a Problem-Solving Approach," World Bank Publications - Reports 17057, The World Bank Group.
    14. Céline Zipfel, 2022. "The demand side of Africa's demographic transition: desired fertility, wealth, and jobs," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 71, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    15. Joanna Watkins & Nick Manning, 2013. "Targeting Results, Diagnosing the Means," World Bank Publications - Reports 25488, The World Bank Group.
    16. Mahesh Karra & Joshua Wilde, 2024. "Economic Foundations of Contraceptive Transitions: Theories and a Review of the Evidence," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(S2), pages 539-569, December.
    17. Haque, Tobias A. & Knight, David S. & Jayasuriya, Dinuk S., 2012. "Capacity constraints and public financial management in small Pacific Island countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6297, The World Bank.
    18. Andrews, Matt, 2013. "Do International Organizations Really Shape Government Solutions in Developing Countries?," Working Paper Series rwp13-032, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    19. D’Exelle, Ben & Lépine, Aurélia & Bakyono, Richard & Tapsoba, Ludovic D.G., 2023. "Fertility and polygyny: Experimental evidence from Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    20. Tobias Akhtar Haque & David Knight & Dinuk Jayasuriya, 2015. "Capacity Constraints and Public Financial Management in Small Pacific Island Countries," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 609-622, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Iran; Fertility;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cid:wpfacu:338. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chuck McKenney (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ciharus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.