A new sociological study reveals a market shaped by information privilege, entrenched networks, and the structural failures of Iran’s ruling system.
For years the Tehran Stock Exchange was presented by the Iranian regime as the “showcase” of the national economy, a symbol of transparency and public participation.
Yet for many market participants, it has long since ceased to embody trust or predictability. A recent sociological study paints a stark and unsettling portrait of a financial market deeply shaped by institutional decay, information privilege, and networks aligned with centers of power rather than investors.
The study, conducted by Akbar Zare’ Shah-Abadi and Fatemeh Pirnehad of Yazd University and published in the Journal of Applied Sociology at the University of Isfahan, highlights how actors within the market themselves describe the system.
Based on interviews with 28 traders and investors, the authors identify a pattern of experiences that collectively reveal an environment where rules lack clarity, oversight is weak, and powerful networks dictate outcomes beyond the reach of ordinary shareholders.
This research fills an important gap in understanding the sociology of financial corruption in Iran, shedding light on the broader structural issues that have long afflicted economic life under the current political system.
Participants in the study describe the stock exchange as suffering from what they call an “anomic market,” where norms are eroded and predictability is absent.
Information asymmetry, manipulation of regulations, collusion between certain portfolio managers and brokers, and the deliberate engineering of market trends contribute to a climate in which ordinary investors feel exposed and vulnerable.
As one interviewee explained, “Some portfolio managers form alliances with certain brokers to guarantee their own profits, even if it harms their clients.” Such practices point to a system where access to privileged information determines winners and losers, while the majority must navigate rumors and incomplete data.
This imbalance feeds what researchers describe as the heightened “perception of corruption” among market participants.
The concept refers to investors’ lived experience of unfairness—from watching influential players receive market-moving data ahead of everyone else, to witnessing sudden price swings that appear disconnected from economic fundamentals.
The result is a widespread sense that the market is not merely suffering from isolated abuses, but is structured around inequality and favoritism.
The research also identifies what participants described as “mafia-style corruption,” a term used to capture the organized relationships among major shareholders, brokers, and politically connected actors who coordinate behind the scenes.
These networks influence pricing trends and market direction in ways that undermine competition and distort the very function of the stock exchange.
One interviewee summarized this dynamic by stating, “Corruption is the transfer of benefits—meaning I take something that isn’t my right, something that should belong to someone else.”
For many small investors, the catastrophic market collapse of 2020 remains a defining example of these structural failures.
Numerous participants in the study attributed that crisis not to market volatility, but to corruption and mismanagement embedded in the system. The collapse exposed what they saw as the regime’s exploitation of public participation in the market while failing to provide even minimal safeguards for investors.
According to the authors, the cumulative impact of this corruption is profound. The Tehran Stock Exchange, once marketed as a safe channel for public investment, has become in the eyes of many a broken and bankrupt showcase.
With rising perceptions of unfairness, the inadequacy of regulatory institutions, and the widening gap between powerful insiders and ordinary shareholders, the market increasingly functions not as a vehicle for economic growth but as a mechanism for reproducing inequality and deepening public mistrust.
The findings underscore that corruption in the Tehran Stock Exchange is not an accidental byproduct of a few rogue actors.
It is embedded in the institutional culture and governance structures shaped by the broader political system.
For a society already grappling with widespread economic turmoil, this erosion of confidence further signals how deeply the regime’s mismanagement has penetrated every layer of Iran’s financial life.
