Databases

Please contact me if you would like access to my databases. If you use my data in your research, please cite the codebooks.

Iran Economic Protest Database (IEPD)

The Iran Economic Protest Database (IEPD) is an event catalogue of all instances of socio-economic contention and collective action reported in Persian between 2012 and 2021 by two major news agencies in Iran: Tasnim News Agency and the Iran Labor News Agency (or ILNA). The original purpose of the dataset is to examine the dynamics of labor protest in Iran during a period of intensified international sanctions. The IEPD stands out for its detailed coding of protest location, protestor identity, protestor demands, and concessions.

  • Main variables: Location, date, type of protestor group, economic sector, institutional target, repression, concessions, demands
  • Codebook: Kalb, Zep, 2025, “Iran Economic Protest Database (IEPD),” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GHKGNP, Harvard Dataverse
  • Status: Consolidated

Figure from (Kalb, 2024)

Iran Business Group Database (IBGD)

The IBGD is a dataset of the 150 largest corporations, by sales, listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The IBGD contains data on four separate years between 2011-23. The original goal of the dataset is to examine the structure of Iran’s political economy and its largest firms, including by exploring board interlocks, cross-shareholdings, and ownership chains.

  • Main variables: Company sales, employment, market valuation, activity; company shareholdings; ultimate beneficial shareholders derived from ownership chains; directorate boards
  • Status: In progress (expected late 2025)

An early impression of corporate community detection in the IBGD (made in early 2025)

Popular Mobilization and the 1980s Iran-Iraq War

I have created two smaller historical datasets dealing with the 1980-88 war in Iran, one of the longest and bloodiest military conflicts of the 20th century – often disregarded by existing (Eurocentric) scholarship. These datasets examine worker mobilization by state agents and grassroots organizations.

Iran Labor Resistance during the 1980s War (ILRES-80s)

The ILRES-80s covers acts of collective and individual resistance in factories and large enterprises in Iran between 1983-1991. These data were extracted from oppositional newspapers and magazines published in exile, many of which relied on local sources to report on social conditions and protests. The data stands out for distinguishing between atomistic and collective modes of resistance.

  • Main variables: Location, date, enterprise name, economic sector, repression, demands, role of local worker organizations
  • Status: Consolidated

Iran Workers’ War Mobilization Dataset (IWWMD)

The IWWMD uses detailed reporting by Kar va Kargar, one of the first new legal newspapers in the Islamic Republic after 1981, controlled by the main workers’ confederation, the Workers’ House. The dataset contains detailed information on donations and contributions made by corporations and government organizations to the military and the warfront between 1985-7. It is useful for researchers interested in exploring the Iran-Iraq war from the vantage point of local state organizations – after all, the war involved massive popular mobilization that was only loosely coordinated and commanded from the top.

  • Main variables: Institution name, institution type, type of donation (monetary and in-kind), donation value
  • Status: Consolidated, open to the public.

Figure from (Kalb, 2022)