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on MENA - Middle East and North Africa |
| By: | Aras, Osman Nuri; Öztürk, Mustafa |
| Abstract: | Human capital is one of the most important source for economic development and economic progress in a country. Of course, the quality of human capital will be determinative of the economic development and economic progress. Education, on the other hand, is the most important and the initial step in improving the quality of human capital and in achieving a sufficient level of qualification regarding human capital. Today, undergraduate education programs, especially Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs, make a greater contribution in upgrading the quality of the human capital. MBA programs have become widespread in Turkey as well as in many countries around the world. There is a necessity of measuring the quality level of human capital which is provided by the education especially, MBA programs. Within the framework of this necessity, in this article, it is aimed to measure the level of contribution of MBA programs to human capital in Turkey. According to the results of the study, there is a statistically significant relationship between economic performance and the quality of human capital obtained through MBA education. However, according to another result of the study, the effect of MBA education on the level of disposable personal income takes time. Moreover, more effort to increase the awareness of the public and private institutions about the contribution of MBA education to human capital is needed. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development, Human Capital, Social Capital, Education, MBA Programs. |
| JEL: | E0 I23 I25 O1 |
| Date: | 2017–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:81843&r=ara |
| By: | Alfred Haug (Department of Economics, University of Otago, New Zealand); Syed Abul Basher (Department of Economics, East west University, Bangladesh); Perry Sadorsky (School of Business, York University, Canada) |
| Abstract: | The impact that oil shocks have on stock prices in oil exporting countries has implications for both domestic and international investors. We derive the shocks driving oil prices from a fully-identified structural model of the oil market. We study their nonlinear relationship with stock market returns in major oil-exporting countries in a multi-factor Markov-switching framework. Flow oil-demand shocks have a statistically significant impact on stock returns in Canada, Norway, Russia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Idiosyncratic oil-market shocks affect stock returns in Norway, Russia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Speculative oil shocks impact stock returns in Canada, Russia, Kuwait and the UAE. Flow oil-supply shocks matter for the UK, Kuwait, and UAE. Mexico is the only country where stock returns are unaffected by oil shocks. These results shed important light on investor sentiment toward the relationship between oil shocks and stock markets in oil exporting countries. |
| Keywords: | Markov-switching; oil-exporting countries; oil-market shocks; stock returns |
| JEL: | E44 G15 Q43 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:otg:wpaper:1710&r=ara |
| By: | Mahe, Clotilde (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Although it has been found that return migrants are more likely to be self-employed than non-migrants, the role of migration episodes per se remains unclear. With reference to Lazear's Jack-of-all-trades hypothesis, this paper examines whether migrants are more likely to choose self-employment upon return because of the diverse work experience they gained abroad. Using the 2012 Egypt Labour Market Panel Survey, seemingly unrelated regression model estimates show that return migrants' greater propensity to be self-employed, to survive or to generate jobs as self-employed might proceed from participating in significantly more occupations, sectors and jobs over their work history than non-migrants. Results hold for non-agricultural activities, rural areas, and controlling for financial resources. In line with Lazear's framework, they confirm that entrepreneurship can be learnt, and that exposure to multiple occupations and industries matters for entering into and persisting in self-employment. |
| Keywords: | International migration, Return migration, Entrepreneurship, Human capital, North Africa, Egypt |
| JEL: | F22 J24 L26 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2017039&r=ara |
| By: | Yvonne Giesing; Almedina Music |
| Abstract: | Using representative household survey data, we study the short-term microeconomic effects of the Egyptian revolution on household behaviour in terms of education, health expenditure and savings. We construct a new measure of political instability by analysing the number of fatalities during political protests throughout the country. Difference-in-Differences estimations show that affected households increased spending on education, especially on their sons' higher education. This can be explained by a positive outlook towards the future, with better labour market prospects. At the same time, households decreased spending on health and increased savings, which can be interpreted as precautionary behaviour. |
| Keywords: | Egypt, education, health, household savings, political uncertainty |
| JEL: | D14 D74 I10 I22 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_237&r=ara |
| By: | Mahe, Clotilde (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Exploiting the documented effect of migration on occupational choice upon return to their origin country with data from Egypt, we establish a link between return migration of men and their wives' time use through within-couple occupational interdependence. Seemingly Unrelated Regression model estimates suggest that being married to a migrant who opted for self-employment upon return decreases a woman's likelihood to engage in paid work, and increases her likelihood to engage in family work and subsistence farming, at both the extensive and intensive margins. This is pronounced for rural families, and when husbands work in agriculture. Results differ by education level, illiterate wives engaging significantly more in paid as well as unpaid work compared to more educated women. Findings are consistent with theoretical models of occupational interdependence between spouses and assortative mating; they highlight the need to buffer potentially depriving migration-induced effects on women's time use, even once migration is complete. |
| Keywords: | International migration, Return migration, Gender, Time use, Entrepreneurship, North Africa, Egypt |
| JEL: | F22 J16 J22 J24 L26 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2017–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2017031&r=ara |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona. Diagonal Av. 690, 08034, Barcelona, Spain.); Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the drivers of wage differences among college graduates who hold a degree in a different field of study. We focus on Turkey, an emerging country that is characterized by a sustained expansion of higher education. We estimate conditional wage gaps by field of study using OLS regressions. Average differentials are subsequently decomposed into the contribution of observable characteristics (endowment) and unobservable characteristics (returns). To shed light on distributional wage disparities by field of study, we provide estimates along the unconditional wage distribution by means of RIF-Regressions. Finally, we also decompose the contribution of explained and unexplained factors in accounting for wage gaps along the whole distribution. As such, this is the first work providing evidence on distributional wage differences by college major for a developing country. The results indicate the existence of important wage differences by field of study, which are partly accounted by differences in observable characteristics (especially occupation and, to a lesser extent, employment sector). These pay gaps are also heterogeneous over the unconditional distribution of wages, as is the share of wage differentials that can be attributed to differences in observable characteristics across workers with degrees in different fields of study. |
| Keywords: | Fields of Study, Wage Differentials, Decomposition, Unconditional Wage Distribution, Turkey |
| JEL: | J31 J24 I23 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2017-02&r=ara |
| By: | Michael Clemens (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Despite the large individual benefits of guest work by the poor in rich countries, agencies charged with global poverty reduction do little to facilitate guest work. This may be because guest work is viewed as a repugnant transaction—one whose harmful side-effects might cause third parties to discourage it. This paper sets out six criteria for a transaction to be repugnant in consequentialist terms, and conducts uncommon tests for repugnance: It uses these criteria to formulate several empirical tests for the repugnance of guest work by Indian construction workers in the United Arab Emirates. It separates the effects of guest work from the correlates of guest work using a natural experiment that quasi-exogenously allocated guest work among a group of several thousand job applicants. The effects offer little evidence that guest work in this setting is typically the cause of repugnant consequences |
| JEL: | F22 J6 O12 O16 O19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:463&r=ara |
| By: | Serge REY; Ilyes GRITLI |
| Abstract: | On s’intéresse dans cet article à l’impact de la libéralisation du compte capital sur le développement financier en Tunisie, sur la période 1986-2014. En s’appuyant sur un modèle ARDL on estime les effets de court terme et de long terme des principaux déterminants du développement financier. Les résultats confirment en particulier l’existence d’une relation de cointégration/long terme qui lie positivement le développement financier au PIB par tête, à l’ouverture commerciale et à l’ouverture du compte capital, et négativement au taux d’inflation et à la mauvaise gouvernance/corruption Ces conclusions sont largement confirmées par des tests de robustesse qui reposent en premier lieu sur des méthodes d’estimation différentes (DOLS et FMOLS), et en second lieu sur une mesure alternative de l’ouverture du compte capital/financière (mesure de jure de Chinn et Ito, 2008). This paper addresses the empirical question of whether capital account openness/financial liberalization can help explain financial development in Tunisia over the 1986-2014 period. Various estimates were made by the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. Estimates show that the positive effect of capital account opening on financial development is much more important in the long term than in the short term, and these positive effects surpass those obtained for trade openness. Moreover, the results confirm the negative impact of corruption on the Tunisian financial system. Complementarily, robustness tests are realized. They confirm our previous results, on one side with DOLS and FMOLS alternative methods and on other side with an alternative measure of capital account openness proposed by Chinn and Ito (2008). |
| Keywords: | Capital account openness, Financial development, ARDL, Tunisia |
| JEL: | C32 F36 G14 O55 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tac:wpaper:2017-2018_1&r=ara |
| By: | Cheriet, F. |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyze the diversity and breadth of managerial fraud practices through the involved agents perceptions’. For this, we exploited the results of two surveys of 28 private enterprises and public officials in nine different regions in Algeria. Our results showed widespread practices of corruption and commercial or tax fraud, with an institutionalization of practices, and the existence of rational process of innovation in the fraud. These fraud practices appear to be an efficient response of businesses to adapt organization to a complex administrative context, in an unstable economic environment and an abundance of public financial funds. ....French Abstract: L’objet de cet article est d’analyser la diversité et l’ampleur des pratiques de fraude managériale à travers les perceptions des acteurs impliqués. Pour cela, nous avons exploité les résultats de deux enquêtes menées auprès de 28 entrepreneurs privés et de 9 fonctionnaires publics dans différentes régions en Algérie. Nos résultats ont montré entre autres, une généralisation des pratiques de corruption et de fraude commerciale et fiscale, accompagnée d’une institutionnalisation des pratiques, et de l’existence de processus rationnel d’innovation dans la fraude. Ces pratiques de fraude apparaissent comme une réponse d’adaptation des entreprises à un contexte administratif complexe, à un environnement économique instable et à une abondance des disponibilités financières publiques. |
| Keywords: | FRAUD; ENTERPRISES; INSTITUTIONS; CORRUPTION; ALGERIA; FRAUDE; ENTREPRISES; INSTITUTIONS; CORRUPTION; ALGERIE |
| JEL: | G28 H32 K42 L26 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umr:wpaper:201705&r=ara |