Degrees

• Ph.D. The University of California at Santa Barbara
• M.A. The University of California at Santa Barbara
• B.A. National University of Iran

About

Dr. Mahdavi is an associate professor emeritus of economics. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He joined the Department of Economics at UTSA in 1984 as a visiting assistant professor and retired in 2019. Since then, Dr. Mahdavi has taught courses in Principles of Micro and Macroeconomics, Managerial Economics, Economics of Developing Countries and Economics Theory and Policy.

Research Interests

Dr. Mahdavi’s primary research interests include issues related to developing countries and government finances. His recent research efforts focus on the budgetary aspects of the American state and local governments. Dr. Mahdavi is a three-time recipient of the Carlos Alvarez College of Business Advisory Council Research Award in the 1990s.

Selected Publications

• “Are State–local Government Expenditures Converging? New Evidence Based on Sequential Unit Root Tests,” (with Joakim Westerlund), Empirical Economics, Vol. 53, Fall 2017.
• “The Level and Composition of Tax Revenue in Developing Countries: Evidence from Unbalanced Panel Data,” in Tax Reform in Developing Countries, Edgar Elgar Publishing, Vol. 2, 2015.
• “Bohn’s Test of Fiscal Sustainability of the American State Governments,” Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 80, No. 4, April 2014, pp. 1028-1054.
• “Public Expenditures and the Unemployment Rate in the American States: Panel Evidence,” Applied Economics, Vol. 45, January 2013, pp. 2926-2937.
• “Fiscal Stringency and Fiscal Sustainability: Panel Evidence from the American State and Local Governments,” with Joakim Westerlund, Journal of Policy Modeling, Vol. 33, Issue 6, Nov.-Dec. 2011, pp. 953-69.
• “The Tax-Spending Nexus: Evidence from a Panel of US State-Local Governments,” with Joakim Westerlund, Economic Modelling, Vol. 28, Issue 3, May 2011, pp. 885-890.
• “The Level and Composition of Tax Revenue in Developing Countries: Evidence from Unbalanced Panel Data,” International Review of Economics and Finance, Vol. 17, Issue 4, October 2008, pp. 607-617.
• “Shifts in the Composition of Government Spending in Response to External Debt Burden,” World Development, Vol. 32, No. 7, July 2004, pp. 1139-1157.