Saeed Laylaz is an Iranian economist who has paid a big price for expressing his views about the direction of the country. A former adviser to Reformist Mohammad Khatami’s administration, Laylaz became a vocal critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s economic policies and spent time in jail in the 2009 post-election crackdown. He was also the editor-in-chief of the periodical Sarmayeh, which was shut down by the government in 2009.

With a new president and a new economic team, for the first time in eight years Laylaz finds himself in the position of supporting the Iranian administrations’ economic policies.

In an exclusive Al-Monitor interview by phone on March 2, Laylaz, who currently teaches at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, discussed how Hassan Rouhani's economic policies can prevent the return of another Ahmadinejad-style populism and how to decrease the Revolutionary Guard's economic influence. He also argues that Rouhani should aim for a smaller administration because during Ahmadinejad’s presidency the administration’s expenditure was increased sevenfold.

Excerpts of the interview follow: