|
on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Meltem Dayioglu (Department of Economics, METU); Serap Türüt-Asik (Department of Economics, METU) |
| Abstract: | The paper attempts to determine whether there are significant gender differences in academic performance among undergraduate students in a large public university in Turkey based on three indicators; university entrance scores, performance in the English preparatory school and in the program the student is majoring in. The paper finds that a smaller number of female students manage to enter the university and when they do so, they enter with lower scores. However, once they are admitted to the university, they excel in their studies and outperform their male counterparts. This result holds after controlling for the field of study and individual attributes. |
| Keywords: | Academic achievement, undergraduate students, gender disparity, Turkey |
| JEL: | I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:0417&r=cwa |
| By: | Christian Bauer; Bernhard Herz |
| Abstract: | Stabilizing the exchange rate is a major monetary policy goal in a number of Mediterranean countries.We present a microstructure model of the foreign exchange market based on technical trading that allows us to categorize de facto exchange rate regimes and to derive a market based measure of the credibility of these exchange rate regimes. In our empirical analysis we compare the exchange rate policies of seven non European Mediterranean countries, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Libya, Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia, with the benchmark of four European non EU countries namely Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania. Our results indicate that the fundamental volatility of the market based ex- change rates is quite moderate and that markets assign a moderate degree of credibility to the exchange rate management of most of the countries. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy, exchange rate policy, credibility, Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, technical trading |
| JEL: | D84 E42 F31 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uba:hadfwe:mediterranean-bauer-herz_2004-12&r=cwa |
| By: | Mihails Hazans |
| Abstract: | Latvia has recorded sustained GDP and productivity growth since 1997. Yet unemployment rates, despite gradual decrease, have remained high. Hazans explores the mysteries of unemployment in Latvia. He analyzes labor flows between employment, unemployment, and nonparticipation and finds the following results: • The type of education and the region of residence appear to be the most important determinants of success in finding jobs by the unemployed. • The unemployed from ethnic minorities have lower chances to find a job within a year, other things equal, while the difference between genders is not significant. However, neither ethnicity nor gender seems to matter as far as the transition from employment to unemployment is concerned. • Regional disparities in job destruction seem to be less sizable than disparities in job creation. • The analysis of job search methods by the unemployed indicates that two target groups of state employment policy (young unemployed and long-term unemployed) appear to make relatively little use of the public employment service. The author also looks at the impact of education, age, gender, ethnicity, and regional factors on individual earnings. The relative position of youth and women in Latvian labor market, compared with prime?age men, is less unfavorable than in many other countries. Yet the gender wage gap has increased recently, and the same is true for regional disparities. Beneficiaries of the so-called “new” education system have a relatively high market value, especially with graduates from universities and general secondary schools. Finally, returns to experience seem to be nonexistent for many adult workers without higher education. This paper—a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division, Europe and Central Asia Region—is part of a larger effort in the region to understand labor market dynamics. |
| Keywords: | Labor & Employment; Transition Economies |
| Date: | 2005–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3504&r=cwa |
| By: | Wing-Keung Wong (National University of Singapore); Aman Agarwal (GGS Indraprastha University); Jun Du (National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | The Indian stock market is one of the earliest in Asia being in operation since 1875, but remained largely outside the global integration process until the late 1980s. A number of developing countries in concert with the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank took steps in the 1980s to establish and revitalize their stock markets as an effective way of mobilizing and allocation of finance. In line with the global trend, reform of the Indian stock market began with the establishment of Securities and Exchange Board of India in 1988. This paper empirically investigates the long-run equilibrium relationship and short-run dynamic linkage between the Indian stock market and the stock markets in major developed countries (United States, United Kingdom and Japan) after 1990 by examining the Granger causality relationship and the pairwise, multiple and fractional cointegrations between the Indian stock market and the stock markets from these three developed markets. We conclude that Indian stock market is integrated with mature markets and sensitive to the dynamics in these markets in a long run. In a short run, both US and Japan Granger causes the Indian stock market but not vice versa. In addition, we find that the Indian stock index and the mature stock indices form fractionally cointegrated relationship in the long run with a common fractional, nonstationary component and find that the Johansen method is the best reveal their cointegration relationship. |
| Keywords: | unit root test, cointegration, Error Correction Model, Vector Autoregression Model, Johansen Multivariate Cointegration, Fractional Cointegration |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nus:nusewp:wp0501&r=cwa |
| By: | Weiping Wu |
| Abstract: | Wu focuses on how urban policies and the clustering of creative industries has influenced urban outcomes. The set of creative industries include those with output protectable under some form of intellectual property law. More specifically, this subsector encompasses software, multimedia, video games, industrial design, fashion, publishing, and research and development. The cities that form the basis for the empirical investigations are those where policy-induced transitions have been most evident, including Boston; San Francisco; San Diego; Seattle; Austin; Washington, D.C.; Dublin (Ireland); Hong Kong (China); and Bangalore (India). The key research questions are: • What types of cities are creative? • What locational factors are essential? • What are the common urban policy initiatives used by creative cities? The author explores the importance of the external environment for innovation and places it in the larger context of national innovation systems. Based on a study of development in Boston and San Diego, he isolates the factors and policies that have contributed to the local clustering of particular creative industries. In both cities, universities have played a major role in catalyzing the local economy by generating cutting-edge research findings, proactively collaborating with industries, and supplying the needed human capital. In addition, these two cities benefited from the existence of anchor firms and active industry associations that promoted fruitful university-industry links. Many cities in East Asia are aspiring to become the creative hubs of the region. But their investments tend to be heavily biased toward infrastructure provision. Although this is necessary, the heavy emphasis on hardware can lead to underinvestment in developing the talents and skills needed for the emergence of creative industries in these cities. This paper—a product of the Development Research Group—was prepared for the East Asia Prospect Study. |
| Keywords: | Education; Industry; Private Sector Development; Urban Development |
| Date: | 2005–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3509&r=cwa |
| By: | Niall O’Higgins (CELPE- DISES, Università degli Studi di Salerno.) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the nature and characteristics of the youth labour market in Europe and Central Asia. The central concern is with the policy response to the substantial youth unemploymen problem emerging with the transition to the market in Central & Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA). After looking at general trends in youth labour markets, in particular the impact of the recessions and the rapid industrial restructuring which accompanied transition, the paper outlines recent developments in youth employment policy at national and international levels and reviews findings on the contributions of policy to both improving youth employment prospects (education and ALMP) and, potentially, reducing them (minimum wages and employment protection legislation). |
| Keywords: | Transition, youth employment, ALMP |
| JEL: | J13 J23 P27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:85&r=cwa |