|
on MENA - Middle East and North Africa |
| By: | TANSEL, AYSIT |
| Abstract: | Purpose: This paper aims to provide the recent developments on the supplementary education system in Turkey. The national examinations for advancing to higher levels of schooling are believed to fuel the demand for Supplementary Education Centers (SEC). Further, we aim to understand the distribution of the SECs and of the secondary schools across the provinces of Turkey in order to evaluate the spacial equity considerations. Design/Methodology/Approach: The evolution of the SECs and of the secondary schools over time are described and compared. The provincial distribution of the SECs, secondary schools and the high school age population are compared. The characteristics of these distributions are evaluated to inform the about spatial equity issues. The distribution of high school age population that attend secondary schools and the distribution of the secondary school students that attend SECs across the provinces are compared. Findings: The evidence points out to significant provincial variations in various characteristics of SECs and the secondary schools. The distribution of the SECs is more unequal than that of the secondary schools. The provinces located mostly in the east and south east of the country have lower quality SECs and secondary schools. Further, the SEC participation among the secondary school students and the secondary school participation among the relevant age group are lower in some of the provinces indicating major disadvantages. Originality/Value: The review of the most recent developments about the SECs, examination and comparison of provincial distributions of the SECs and of the secondary schools are novelties in this paper. |
| Keywords: | Supplementary Education, Demand for Education, Turkey |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I22 |
| Date: | 2013–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50213&r=ara |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (Department of Econometrics, University of Barcelona); Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU) |
| Abstract: | Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills. |
| Keywords: | Foreign Languages, Returns to Skills, Heterogeneity, Turkey |
| JEL: | I25 J24 J31 O15 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1311&r=ara |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University) |
| Abstract: | Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills. The findings suggest that specific programs to adapt immigrants’ human capital acquired in home country are required to reduce differences in the incidence of skill mismatch and a better integration in the EU labour markets. |
| Keywords: | Foreign Languages, Returns to Skills, Heterogeneity, Turkey. JEL classification: I25, J24, J31, O15, O53 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201311&r=ara |
| By: | Erdoğdu, Seyhan; Toksöz, Gülay |
| Keywords: | domestic worker, women workers, working conditions, social security legislation, labour legislation, comment, Turkey, employé de maison, travailleuses, conditions de travail, législation de sécurité sociale, législation du travail, commentaire, Turquie, trabajador doméstico, trabajadoras, condiciones de trabajo, legislación de seguridad social, legislación del trabajo, comentario, Turquía |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:481213&r=ara |
| By: | Ansgar Belke; Christian Dreger |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of global oil and food price shocks to consumer prices in Middle East-North African (MENA) countries using threshold cointegration methods. Oil and food price shocks increase domestic prices in the long run, whereby the impact of food prices dominates. While global prices are weakly exogenous, consumer prices respond to deviations from the equilibrium relationship. The shortrun adjustment pattern exhibits asymmetries and is particularly strong after positive shocks. Downward rigidities on wages may play a crucial role in this regard, as the relatively weak reactions of consumer prices after negative shocks are related to labour market institutions and public subsidies. The more rigid the regulations the more pronounced are the asymmetries. Robustness checks show that international price shocks do not affect GDP growth. |
| Keywords: | Oil and food price transmission; asymmetric error correction; MENA region |
| JEL: | C22 E31 Q02 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0448&r=ara |
| By: | Tarek Hassan (The University of Chicago); Ahmed Tahoun (London Busines School); Daron Acemoglu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | A key question for Egypt's long-term economic and political prospects of is whether the "rent-seeking coalition" consisting of a network of National Democratic Party (NDP) members and military officers has been truly uprooted by the fall of Mubarak's regime. One possibility is that this network, having shed the Mubarak family, will re-create itself, centering this time on high-ranking members of the military or on the Muslim Brotherhood. We investigate this possibility by examining the behavior of firms and the perceptions of financial investors in the Egyptian stock market. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed013:443&r=ara |
| By: | Ugur, Z.B. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: Zeynep’s research interests are mainly in the field of health and labor economics. In this thesis, she explores a broad range of topics within the domain of the economics of gender, health and happiness. The first chapter provides the motivations for the studies and summarizes the main findings. The second chapter documents differences in educational attainment, labor market outcomes and childbearing among women by their use of headscarves and investigates the impact of the headscarf ban in Turkey on women’s educational attainment, labor force participation and childbearing decisions. In Chapter 3, she explores the relationship between presumed consent legislation and various organ donation indicators such as willingness to donate one’s organs, organ donation card holding, actual organ donation rates and kidney transplantation rates. The last chapter looks at the relationship between pro-social behavior and subjective wellbeing and tries to quantify the happiness effect of donating in the Netherlands. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:tilbur:urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-5927864&r=ara |
| By: | FARHADI, MARYAM; SALEHI, HADI; EMBI, MOHAMED AMIN; FOOLADI, MASOOD; FARHADI, HADI; AGHAEI CHADEGANI, AREZOO; Ale Ebrahim, Nader |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear. |
| Keywords: | Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development, H-index, Middle East |
| JEL: | G0 G00 G20 M1 O29 P4 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51367&r=ara |
| By: | Ahdi Noomen Ajmi; Shawkat Hammoudeh; Duc Khuong Nguyen; Soodabeh Sarafrazi |
| Abstract: | Past studies suggest that the Islamic Â…nance system is only weakly linked or even de- coupled from conventional markets. If this statement is true, then this system may provide a cushion against potential losses resulting from probable future Â…nancial crises. In this article, we make use of heteroscedasticity-robust linear Granger causality and nonlinear Granger causality tests to examine the links between the Islamic and global conventional stock markets, and between the Islamic stock market and several global economic and Â…nancial shocks. Our Â…ndings reveal evidence of signiÂ…cant linear and nonlinear causality between the Islamic and conventional stock markets but more strongly from the Islamic stock market to the other markets. They also show potent causality between the Islamic stock market and Â…nancial and risk factors. This evidence leads to the rejection of the hy- pothesis of decoupling of the Islamic market from their conventional counterparts, thereby reduces the portfolio beneÂ…ts from diversiÂ…cation with Sharia-based markets. A striking result shows a connection between the Islamic stock market and interest rates and interest- bearing securities, which is inconsistent with the Sharia rules. The results also suggest that modeling Islamic stock markets should be done within a nonlinear VAR system and not through a regression equation. |
| Keywords: | Islamic Â…nance, robust causality tests, Â…nancial and economic shocks. |
| Date: | 2013–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:35&r=ara |