|
on Central and Western Asia |
|
Issue of 2011‒02‒19
nine papers chosen by Bibhu Prasad Nayak Institute for Social and Economic Change |
| By: | Nil Demet Güngör (Atýlým University); Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University and Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo, Egypt) |
| Abstract: | The study estimates an empirical model of return intentions using a dataset compiled from an internet survey of Turkish professionals residing abroad. In the migration literature, wage differentials are often cited as an important factor explaining skilled migration. The findings of our study suggest, however, that non-pecuniary factors, such as the importance of family and social considerations, are also influential in the return or non-return decision of the highly educated. In addition, economic instability in Turkey, prior intentions to stay abroad and work experience in Turkey also increase non-return. Female respondents also appear less likely to return indicating a more selective migration process for females. |
| Keywords: | Skilled migration, Brain drain, Return intentions, Turkey |
| JEL: | F20 F22 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1103&r=cwa |
| By: | KABLAN, Sandrine; YOUSFI, Ouidad |
| Abstract: | Our study aims at analyzing Islamic bank efficiency over the period 2001-2008. We found that they were efficient at 92%. The level of efficiency could however vary according to the region where they operate. Asia displays the highest score with 96%. Indeed, country like Malaysia made reforms in order to allow these banks to better cope with the existing financial system, display the highest scores. On the contrary countries with Islamic banking system do not necessarily display efficiency scores superior to the average. The subprime crisis seems to have impacted those banks indirectly. And market power and profitability have a positive impact on Islamic banks efficiency, while it is the contrary for their size. The latter implies that they do not benefit from scale economy, may be because of the specificity of Islamic financial products. |
| Keywords: | Islamic Finance; Islamic Banks; performance; efficiency; stochastic frontier analysis. |
| JEL: | C23 G32 G21 |
| Date: | 2011–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28695&r=cwa |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University and Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo, Egypt); Fatma Bircan (Karaelmas University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the male wage inequality and its evolution over the 1994-2002 period in Turkey by estimating Mincerian wage equations using OLS and quantile regression techniques. Male wage inequality is high in Turkey. While it declined at the lower end of the wage distribution it increased at the top end of wage distribution. Education contributed to higher wage inequality through both within and between dimensions. The within-groups inequality increased and between-groups inequality decreased over the study period. The latter factor may have dominated the former contributing to the observed decline in the male wage inequality over the 1994-2002. Further results are provided for the wage effects of experience, cohort effects, public sector employment, geographic location, firm size, industry of employment and their contribution to wage inequality. Recent increases in FDI inflows, openness to trade and global technological developments are discussed as contributing factors to the recent rising within-groups wage inequality. |
| Keywords: | Wage Inequality, Returns to Education, Quantile Regression, Turkey |
| JEL: | J31 J23 J24 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1102&r=cwa |
| By: | Ingrid Kylstad |
| Abstract: | This paper conducts an ontological inquiry into the identity of the European Union, and seeks to establish whether its core identity is of a cultural or political nature through looking at the debate generated by Turkey’s application for EU membership. The concepts of ‘the other’, the nation-state and a secularism rooted in Christianity contributes towards a peculiar culturalist understanding of the EU project both on the left and on the right side of the political spectrum. The debate also demonstrates that there is a gap between what the EU ought to be judging from its fundamental documents, and what kind form of the EU ‘Europe’ is ready for. The liberal idea of the EU being a purely political union based on Kantian ideals will require a whole new language for talking about Europe. |
| Keywords: | European identity; enlargement |
| Date: | 2010–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:leqsxx:p0027&r=cwa |
| By: | Fragoso, António (University of Algarve); Lucio-Villegas, Emilio (University of Seville) |
| Abstract: | Local development processes include a complex social dynamic where, frequently, conflicts has an important role, namely blocking the cooperation modes between social actors or institutions. Mediation can have an important role in local development processes. In this paper we analyse data from long lasting processes of local development, focusing on the mediation structure in order to highlight some conclusive reflections |
| Keywords: | Local development; conflict; mediation; social change |
| JEL: | I29 |
| Date: | 2010–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:cieodp:2010_012&r=cwa |
| By: | Clémence Vergne (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | This paper overcomes traditional political budget cycles models, focusing solely on the dynamics of the overall budget, in order to shed light on electoral composition changes in public spending. Using data on 42 developing countries from 1975 to 2001, we find evidence of electoral impacts on the allocation of public expenditure. Our results show that election-year public spending shifts towards more visible current expenditure, in particular wages and subsidies, and away from capital expenditure. Futhermore, our findings suggest that electoral impacts on the allocation of public spending are likely to endure, even though countries gain experience in electoral politics. |
| Keywords: | Political budget cycles;public expenditure composition;developing countries |
| Date: | 2011–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00564572&r=cwa |
| By: | Markus Bruckner (School of Economics, University of Adelaide); Antonio Ciccone (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Andrea Tesei (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of oil price fluctuations on democratic institutions over the 1960-2007 period. We also exploit the very persistent response of income to oil price fluctuations to study the effect of persistent (oil price-driven) income shocks on democracy. Our results indicate that countries with greater net oil exports over GDP see improvements in democratic institutions following upturns in international oil prices. We estimate that a 1 percentage point increase in per capita GDP growth due to a positive oil price shock increases the Polity democracy score by around 0.2 percentage points on impact and by around 2 percentage points in the long run. The effect on the probability of a democratic transition is around 0.4 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | democracy, oil price shocks, persistent income shocks |
| JEL: | P16 O10 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:wpaper:2011-11&r=cwa |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor - IZA); Claudia Senik (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, Université Paris-Sorbonne - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche) |
| Abstract: | This paper asks what low-income countries can expect from growth in terms of happiness. It interprets the set of available international evidence pertaining to the relationship between income growth and subjective well-being. Conforming to the Easterlin paradox, higher income always correlates with higher happiness, except in one case: whether national income growth yields higher well-being is still hotly debated; essentially, the question is whether the correlation coefficient is “too small to matter”. The explanations for the small correlation between income growth and subjective well-being over time appeal to the nature of growth itself (e.g. negative side-effects such as pollution), and to the psychological importance of relative concerns and adaptation. The available evidence contains two important lessons: income comparisons do seem to affect subjective well-being even in very poor countries; however, adaptation may be more of a rich country phenomenon. Our stand is that the idea that growth will increase happiness in low-income countries cannot be rejected on the basis of the available evidence. First, cross-country time-series analyses are based on aggregate measures, which are less reliable than individual ones. Second, development is a qualitative process that involves take-offs and thresholds. Such regime changes are eye-visible through the lens of subjective satisfaction measures. The case of Transition countries is particularly impressive in this respect: average life satisfaction scores closely mirror changes in GDP for about the first ten years of the transition process, until the regime becomes more stable. If subjective measures of well-being were made available in low-income countries, they would certainly help measuring and monitoring the different stages and dimensions of the development process. |
| Keywords: | income ; subjective well-being ; comparisons ; adaptation ; development |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00564985&r=cwa |
| By: | Diganta Mukherjee (Unitedworld School of Business Kolkata); Uday Bhanu Sinha (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India) |
| Abstract: | A developing economy like India is often characterised by a labour market with demand and supply of labour and a wage that even if competitively determined may not be adequate for the poor household to reach their target income; what they consider as means of a decent living. Envisaging situations like these, the Indian government has implemented the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in recent past, to complement the income of the poor by providing them employment for certain number of labour days in a year. In this paper, using a simple theoretical model, we have analysed the impact of NREGA scheme on (i) rural labour market, (ii) income of the poor households and (iii) overall agricultural production. It is seen that the income from NREGA alone can be a substantial part of the target income of the poor. We show that in such a situation, the poor may exhibit a backward bending supply curve of labour which may lead to an aggregate reduction in agricultural output. This adverse production effect can happen even when the NREGA activities lead to a moderate improvement in agricultural productivity. Data on food prices tend to support our finding to some extent. |
| Keywords: | NREGA, target income, labour supply, agricultural productivity, India, Asia |
| JEL: | I38 J22 J43 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:196&r=cwa |