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on Arab World |
| By: | Halicioglu, Ferda; Karatas, Cevat |
| Abstract: | ocial Discount Rate (SDR) is a very crucial policy parameter in public project appraisals due to its resource allocation impacts. This study estimates an SDR for Turkey using the Social Time Preference Rate (STPR) approach. The elasticity of the marginal utility consumption, which is the most important component of the STPR, is estimated econometrically from a demand for food approach during the period of 1980-2008. The overall result indicates that the SDR for Turkey is 5.06%. The European Union requires evaluation of the publicly supported commercial projects in terms of the SDR; hence the findings from this study can be used as a useful policy measurement for a full EU member candidate country, Turkey. |
| Keywords: | ocial discount rate; social time preference; project appraisal; ARDL; Turkey |
| JEL: | H20 C22 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32925&r=ara |
| By: | KABLAN, S; YOUSFI, O |
| Abstract: | Our study aims at analyzing Islamic banks efficiency over the period 2001-2008. We found that they were efficient at 78.9%. The level of efficiency could however vary according to regions. Asia displays the highest score with 84.64%. Indeed, country like Malaysia and Pakistan implemented reforms in order to allow Islamic banks to better cope with the existing financial system. On the contrary countries with Islamic banking system do not necessarily display efficiency scores superior to the average. Further analyses on commercial banks, in the selected countries strengthen the conclusion for a regulatory environment suiting Islamic banking. Besides, the subprime crisis did not impact Islamic banks as evidenced by the dummy variable. Market power and profitability have negative impact on Islamic banks efficiency. Concentration leads to higher costs through slacks and inefficiency. Again other results from robustness checks appear to stress the specificity of Islamic banks, like their first aim for financing rural population. |
| Keywords: | Islamic Finance, Islamic Banks, performance, efficiency, stochastic frontier analysis |
| JEL: | G15 G24 G21 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32849&r=ara |
| By: | Murat Ungor |
| Abstract: | Aggregate labor productivity growth can be expressed by both productivity growth within individual sectors and reallocation of labor between sectors. An understanding of the dynamics of aggregate productivity growth requires insight into the contributions of these two effects. This note provides a glimpse of the sectoral sources of the aggregate labor productivity growth in Turkey between 2001 and 2008 conducting a simple analysis using information coming from the nine sectors of the Turkish economy. Productivity growth within the nine sectors explains 71.9 percent of the aggregate labor productivity growth in Turkey. Manufacturing (27.1 percent in total) contributes most to the labor productivity growth. Toplam isgucu verimliligi her bir sektorde gozlenen verimlilik artislari ve sektorler arasinda emegin yeniden tahsisine bagli olarak ifade edilebilir. Bu iki faktorun katkilarini incelemek toplam isgucu verimliligi dinamiklerinin daha iyi anlasilmasina yardimci olabilmektedir. Bu not, Turkiye için 2001-2008 doneminde isgucu verimliliginin sektorel kaynaklarini, ekonomiyi olusturan dokuz sektore ait bilgileri kullanarak basit bir analiz yardimiyla incelemektedir. Isgucu verimliligindeki buyumenin yuzde 71,9’luk kisminin sektor ici verimlilik artislarindan kaynaklandigi gozlenmistir. Imalat sanayi isgucu verimliligine en cok katkida bulunan sektor olup gozlenen verimlilik artisina yuzde 27,1’lik katki yapmaktadir. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:econot:1111&r=ara |
| By: | Fabio Canova (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Ramon Trias Fargas 25-27, 08005 Barcelona, Spain.); Matteo Ciccarelli (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, D-60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the similarities of macroeconomic fluctuations in the Mediterranean basin and their convergence. A model with three indicators, covering the West, the East and the MENA portions of the Mediterranean, characterizes well the historical experience since the early 1980. Convergence and divergence coexist in the region and are reversible. Except for the West, domestic cyclical fluctuations are still due to national and idiosyncratic causes. The outlook for the next few years looks rosier for the MENA and the East blocks than for the West. JEL Classification: C11, C33, E32. |
| Keywords: | Bayesian methods, business cycles, Mediterranean basin, developing and developed countries. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20111367&r=ara |