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on MENA - Middle East and North Africa |
| By: | Deger, Cagacan |
| Abstract: | It is frequently stated that Turkey's trade orientation has shifted in the last decade away from Europe and more towards the East, specifically Arab countries and Middle East. However, comprehensive presentation of the situation is lacking, causing concern over the validity of the statement. This paper examines the foreign trade of Turkey for years 1995 to 2012. The analysis focuses on a number of country groups and product categories. The analysis confirms the shift away from EU and towards not only Arab countries but Asia as a whole, primarily due to gas imports from Russia. It is observed that Turkey's exports are becoming more focused towards manufactured goods and increasing in technological complexity. An interesting observation is the increase in the share of “commodities and transactions not elsewhere classified”, especially with the Arab countries. |
| Keywords: | international trade; Turkey; trade patterns |
| JEL: | F10 F14 |
| Date: | 2014–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59817&r=ara |
| By: | Shahid Yusuf |
| Abstract: | Since the onset of the Arab Spring, economic uncertainty in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen (Arab Countries in Transition, ACTs) has slowed already sluggish growth; worsened unemployment, particularly of youth; undermined business confidence, affected tourist arrivals, and depressed domestic and foreign direct investment. Furthermore, political and social tensions have constrained reform efforts. Assessing policy options as presented in the voluminous literature on the Arab Spring and based on cross-country experience, this paper concludes that sustainable and inclusive growth calls for a two pronged approach: short term measures that revive growth momentum and partially allay popular concerns; complemented with efforts to adjust the public’s expectations and prepare the ground for structural reforms that will deliver the desired longer tem performance. |
| Keywords: | Transition economies;Middle East;Egypt;Jordan;Libya;Morocco;Tunisia;Yemen;Unemployment;Economic growth;Economic conditions;Cross country analysis;economic transition; growth; youth unemployment; institutions; education; social safety nets; SMEs; SEZs. |
| Date: | 2014–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:14/135&r=ara |
| By: | Tansel, Aysit; Dalgıç, Başak; Güven, Aytekin |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates wage inequality and wage mobility in Turkey using the Surveys on Income and Living Conditions (SILC). This is the first paper that explores wage mobility for Turkey. It differs from the existing literature by providing analyses of wage inequality and wage mobility over various socioeconomic groups such as gender, age, education and sector of economic activity. We first present an overview of the evolution of wages and wage inequality over the period 2005-2011. Next, we compute several measures of wage mobility and explore the link between wage inequality and wage mobility. Further, we compute the transition matrices which show movements of individuals across the wage distribution from one period to another and investigate the determinants of transition probabilities using a multinomial logit model. The results show that overall the real wages increased over the study period and wage inequality exhibits a slight increase.. Wage inequality is one of the highest among the European Union (EU) countries. The wage mobility in Turkey is lower than what is observed in the European Union countries although it increases as time horizon expands. Wage mobility has an equalizing impact on the wage distribution, however; this impact is not substantial enough to overcome the high and persistent wage inequality in Turkey. |
| Keywords: | Wage Inequality, Wage Mobility, Heterogeneity, Turkey |
| JEL: | D31 D63 J31 J60 |
| Date: | 2014–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59764&r=ara |
| By: | Badalyan, Gohar; Herzfeld, Thomas; Rajcaniova, Miroslava |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2014–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa142:168922&r=ara |
| By: | Asli M. Colpan (Kyoto University, Graduate School of Management); Geoffrey G. Jones (Harvard Business School, General Management Unit) |
| Abstract: | This working paper examines the origins and development of the Koç Group, which grew to be the largest business group in Turkey. This enterprise was an important actor in the emergence of modern business enterprise in the new state of the Republic of Turkey from the 1920s. After World War II it diversified rapidly, forming part of a cluster of business groups which dominated the Turkish economy alongside state-owned firms. This study shows how the founder of the Group, Vehbi Koç, formulated his business model, and analyzes how his firm evolved into a diversified business group. The research supports prevailing explanations of business groups which identify the role of institutional voids, government policies and contact capabilities, but it also builds on and extends earlier suggestions in both the management and business history literatures that entrepreneurship needs incorporating more strongly as an explanatory factor. This working paper argues that Koç acted as both a Kirznerian and Schumpeterian entrepreneur to build his business group, both in its formative stages and later in its subsequent growth into a diversified group. |
| Keywords: | business groups, Turkey, Entrepreneurship in emerging markets. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:15-035&r=ara |
| By: | Hatice Jenkins (Department of Banking and Finance, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus); Monir Hussain (Department of Banking and Finance, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | Providing SMEs with access to external finance has been a major concern for many governments and international organizations for three decades. In recent years the experiences of emerging market countries suggest that a paradigm shift is taking place in SME finance. Particularly in fast-growing emerging market countries, banks are increasingly targeting SMEs as a new line of banking business. This research analyzes how the macroeconomic factors have contributed to the increased commercial bank lending to SMEs in Turkey, a fast-growing emerging market country. Based on an econometric analysis it is found that a high GDP growth rate and increasing competition in the Turkish banking sector have contributed to the growing banking sector credit to SMEs. The findings also reveal that curbing the high inflation rate and reducing government domestic borrowings have significantly helped to encourage bank lending to the SME segment. This research contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence to much-discussed theoretical arguments on the characteristics of an enabling macroeconomic environment for SME finance. |
| Keywords: | SME lending, macroeconomics, banking sector, emerging markets, access to credit |
| JEL: | G21 G28 O12 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:dpaper:261&r=ara |
| By: | Liu, Xiaoying; Sarr, Mare; Swanson, Timothy |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of the introduction of uniform water-charging for aquifer management and provide evidence using a survey-based choice experiment of agricultural water users in rural Tunisia. Theoretically, we show that the implementation of the proposed second-best regulation would result both in efficiency gains and in distributional effects in favour of small landholders. Empirically, we find that resistance to the introduction of an effective water-charging regime is greatest amongst the largest landholders. Resistance to the regulation of common resources may be rooted in the manner in which heterogeneity might determine the distributional impact of different management regimes. |
| Keywords: | commons, water, aquifer, heterogeneity, Tunisia |
| JEL: | O13 Q11 Q24 Q25 |
| Date: | 2014–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-14-17-efd&r=ara |
| By: | Aysenur Acar (Bahcesehir University Center for Economic and Social Research); Cem Baslevent (Istanbul Bilgi University) |
| Abstract: | Using a balanced panel drawn from Turkstat’s Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC), we aim to identify the main determinants of Turkish households’ entry into and exit from poverty. During the 4 year period (2007-2010) examined, the relative income poverty rate declined moderately, implying that households were more likely to exit than enter poverty. In addition to a descriptive analysis where poor, non-poor, entrant, and exitor households are compared in terms of basic household and household head characteristics, the empirical work involves the estimation of binary choice models that analyze the relative importance of these factors. Our models reveal that the employment status and schooling of the household head and household size are closely associated with poverty status changes. The probability of entry into poverty, for instance, is higher for larger households with many inactive/dependent members. However, model specifications that produce the best fit are the ones that take into account the changes in household composition and the amounts of income types received. |
| Keywords: | poverty transitions, relative income poverty, binary choice models |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bae:wpaper:015&r=ara |
| By: | Adel Ben Youssef (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France; GREDEG CNRS); Walid Hadhri (Université de Tunis); Hatem Mhenni (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Tunis; Université de la Manouba) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between the adoption of Information Technologies (IT) and the adoption of New Organizational Practices (NOP) in the context of an emerging country (Tunisia). Based on face-to-face questionnaire, to a random sample of 175 Tunisian manufactures, and using an ordered logit model, our empirical results show a significant link between IT adoption and NOP. We show that the complementarity is strengthened when the technology evolves. Adoption and usage of latest technologies are pushed by the prior adoption of NOP. |
| Keywords: | ICT adoption, ICT usage, Ordred Logit Model, New Organizational Practices |
| JEL: | L21 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2014-31&r=ara |
| By: | Rawaa Harati (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides historical and empirical arguments that can explain the development of the Egyptian informal sector. After recalling the various approaches proposed in the literatures, it identifies the configuration that overrides the Egyptian labor market by allowing for the heterogeneity of informal jobs and therefore the existence of different segments within the informal sector using a mixture model. It concludes that the Egyptian informal labor market in 2006 was composed of two segments with a distinct wage equations. This may point to the existence of barriers to entry to each sector, e.g. fixed cost related to social stigma which prevent people from working in the sector which offers them the highest expected wage. |
| Keywords: | Informal market; development economics; finite mixture model; Egypt; segmentation; selection bias |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00820783&r=ara |