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on Arab World |
| By: | Çokgezen, Murat |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates attitudes of Turkish university students towards markets and influence of taking a course in economics on these attitudes, and compares the results with students in other countries. The study results show that the opinions of university students in Turkey about the justice of market relations are negative compared to students from other countries; and, unlike other countries’ students, taking a course in economics does not change this attitude. |
| Keywords: | attitudes; markets; economics education; Turkey |
| JEL: | A13 A20 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32346&r=ara |
| By: | Çokgezen, Murat |
| Abstract: | This study has examined the results of SOE policy by comparing two provinces in Turkey, one that was a would-be beneficiary of this policy and the other not. Statistical data and anecdotal evidence from in-depth interviews show that the SOEs increased labor costs, discouraged private entrepreneurship and guided locals to political, rather than productive solutions to their economic problems; regional development in the province in which SOEs dominated the regional economy was hindered. These results are in line with the reported outcomes of SOE policy adopted by Italian governments in order to promote development in southern Italy. |
| Keywords: | state owned enterprises turkey regional development |
| JEL: | O18 L26 |
| Date: | 2011–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27676&r=ara |
| By: | Mehrdad Vahabi (EA - ERASME-Economie Politique Internationale - Université Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint Denis : EA); Mohajer Nasser (EA - ERASME - Université Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint Denis : EA) |
| Abstract: | This paper takes a stylized paradoxical fact of Iranian politics under the Islamic Republic of Iran as its starting point: the stark confusion between the position and a good portion of the opposition. Such a blurred frontier between 'position' and 'opposition' did not exist during the Shah's regime. Without the decisive support of non-Islamic organizations, secular intellectuals, and political forces on the ground, the creation of a theocratic regime in Iran and its consolidation could not be realized. Now in the thirtieth anniversary of the Islamic Republic, the open opposition of many influential clergies towards the way in which government is run under the present Supreme Leader and President Ahmadinejad, provides a new episode of 'opposition' within the theocrats' circles. To put this paradoxical fact differently, it should be emphasized that no regime in Iran's modern history has produced so much 'opposition' within its own ranks and enjoyed the loyalty of its 'oppositions' at the same time. How could this paradox be explained? Our paper tackles this issue by describing the peculiar type of social order under the Republic Islamic of Iran as ordered anarchy or "destructive coordination". Analysing the sources of this type of coordination, we proceed in two steps. The first is to question whether there has ever been a laic or secular movement in the recent Iranian history. The second consists in defining the institutional setup and recent dynamics of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a strange, if not unique, mutant of Huntington's Praetorian state, led by 'priests' and armed religious militants. |
| Keywords: | secularism, destructive coordination, contradictory orders, parallel institutions, Islamic Republic of Iran |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00629139&r=ara |
| By: | Sdiri, Hanen; Ayadi, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | Service innovation is a key element in firms’ performance. However, most studies have paid particular attention to the analysis of business’ internal resources and their effects on innovation, regardless to the role of some other relevant characteristics such as external environment of firms. Using a sample of 108 Tunisian service firms, the goal of this paper is to analyze the relationship between internationalization and innovation which represents a central issue in the international business literature. Our results confirm that internationalization enhances a firm’s innovation capacity. This result suggests that access to external knowledge clearly explains the innovation performance of Tunisian firms. |
| Keywords: | Innovation capacity; Internationalization; Service sector |
| JEL: | F23 O33 L80 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34036&r=ara |
| By: | Khiabani, Nasser |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of oil price and monetary shocks on the Iranian housing market in a Bayesian SVAR framework. The prior information for the contemporaneous identification of the SVAR model is derived from standard economic theory. To deal with uncertainty in the identification schemes, I calculate posterior model probabilities for the SVAR model identified by a different set of over-identification restrictions. In order to draw accurate inferences regarding the effectiveness of the shocks in an over-identified Bayesian SVAR, a Bayesian Monte Carlo integration method is applied. The findings indicate that oil price shocks explain a substantial portion of housing market fluctuations. Housing prices increase in response to a positive credit shock, but only with a noticeably smaller magnitude when compared with the response to a positive oil price shock. |
| Keywords: | Housing market fluctuations; Oil price shocks; Credit shocks; Bayesian Structural VAR; Bayesian model averaging (BMA); Bayesian Monte Carlo integration method |
| JEL: | C32 C53 E32 E52 |
| Date: | 2010–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34041&r=ara |
| By: | Mehrdad Vahabi (EA - ERASME-Economie Politique Internationale - Université Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint Denis : EA) |
| Abstract: | Le concept de 'mode de coordination' saisit la façon dont une économie est imbriquée dans les relations sociales et influence l'intégration d'une société à travers un 'processus institué'. Trois principaux modes de coordination ont été identifiés dans la littérature, à savoir le mode de coordination par le marché (dont la figure emblématique est l'Angleterre depuis la révolution industrielle), la redistribution (dont l'une des figures emblématiques récentes est l'économie type soviétique), et la réciprocité (dont la figure emblématique est les tribus ou communauté de parenté) (Polanyi 1944, [1957] 1968 ; Lindblom 1977 ; Kornai 1984, 1992). Notre objectif est d'introduire un nouveau type de coordination que nous nommerons 'mode de coordination destructive'. C'est une forme d'intégration sociale par chantage, menace, intimidation, agression, violence, ou nuisance. Ce type de mode de coordination a été pratiquement entièrement négligé dans la littérature, même s'il existe depuis les temps anciens sous différentes formes et variétés. Une illustration récente typique est celle de l'ordre social sous la République Islamique d'Iran. |
| Keywords: | mode de coordination ; coordination destructive ; ordres contradictoires ; institutions parallèles ; République Islamique d'Iran |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00629134&r=ara |
| By: | Sandrine Mesplé-Somps (DIAL, IRD, Paris); Laure Pasquier-Doumer (DIAL, IRD, Paris) |
| Abstract: | This study aims at analyzing the standard of living of the Balbala residents in Djibouti, whose will benefit from an integrated urban development project (PDUI). The objective of the PDUI project is to improve standard of living of 30,000 people in three districts of Balbala, by developing basic infrastructure, community facilities and social programs. To assess the impact of this project, a baseline survey was conducted in 2010 to measure its standard of living before the project started. This representative survey focuses on four areas, where impact is expected: employment, housing conditions, health and safety. The analysis highlights strong disparities within the area in terms of housing conditions. Very strong imbalances can be observed in the labour market, that result in an excessively small share of the population in employment. These imbalances affect mostly youth and women. However, access to health and safety in these neighborhoods are better than what was hypothesized before the implementation of the survey. _________________________________ Cette étude dresse un panorama des conditions de vie des habitants de quartiers pauvres de la ville de Djibouti bénéficiant du Projet de Développement Urbain Intégré (PDUI). L’objectif du projet PDUI est d’améliorer leurs conditions de vie par le développement d’infrastructures de base, la mise en place d’équipements collectifs et le financement de programmes de développement social. En vue d’évaluer l’impact de ce projet, une enquête de référence a été conduite en 2010 afin de connaître les conditions de vie des ménages avant le lancement du projet. Cette enquête, représentative de la zone, porte sur les quatre domaines sur lesquels un impact est attendu: l’emploi, les conditions d’habitat, la santé et la sécurité. Son analyse met en avant des disparités élevées à l’intérieur de la zone dans les conditions d’habitats. Le marché du travail quant à lui présente de très forts déséquilibres, qui se traduisent par une part excessivement réduite de la population exerçant une activité professionnelle. L’inactivité et le chômage touchent principalement les jeunes et les femmes. En revanche, l’accès à la santé ainsi que la sécurité sont dans ces quartiers meilleurs que ce qui était envisagé au moment de la conception du projet. |
| Keywords: | Evaluation d’impact, développement urbain, Djibouti, Balbala, Impact evaluation, Urban development. |
| JEL: | I38 I11 J21 O22 R21 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201108&r=ara |