Saving Iran’s Auto Industry

The automobile industry in Iran is a telling example of how government interference pulls an industry out of economic reckonings and burdens it with political baggage. The result is an industry whose product is manufactured at a very high cost and sold to a special group, using uncommon gambits such as lottery, at a mandated price that does not cover the costs, but at a market price three times higher than the factory price. This equals to inefficiency, waste of resources and reduction of public welfare. 
Hossein Abbasi, a lecturer in the Department of Economics of University of Maryland, prefaced his article for the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad with this note. A translation of the text follows:
Let’s take a look at the features of Iran’s automobile market. 
First: Carmaking is costly here. Several indicators can be surveyed but comparing the number of manufactured products with the number of workers is enough to show the inefficiency of the production process.