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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Yavuz Arslan; Evren Ceritoglu |
| Abstract: | We estimate average quality growth and upward inflation bias for a set of 51 goods in Turkey by using 7 waves of Household Budget Survey from 2003 to 2009 and TURKSTAT prices. We employ instrumental variables approach introduced by Bils and Klenow (2001). We find that average quality growth in Turkey is 3.93 percent. Of this 3.93 percent, 2.28 percent is not netted out by TURKSTAT. Consequently, for the set of goods that we study, the estimated inflation bias is 2.28 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | Quality bias, Inflation rates |
| JEL: | D12 E31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1121&r=cwa |
| By: | Kisswani, Khalid/ M. |
| Abstract: | In 1973-1974, the U.S. faced the so-called “Energy Crisis” due to the Arab oil embargo and a quadrupling of world crude oil prices by OPEC. This led the U.S. to use a” Price Control” policy in the domestic energy market. The effects of such policy are explored and well documented. However, the responses of OPEC producers to such a policy need further attention. This paper examines the effects of these price controls on OPEC‟s extraction path. It also examines the relation between the harm function and the change in OPEC production. The results show some evidence that OPEC did respond differently to price controls applied by the U.S. For some periods it cut production, while in other periods production levels increased. The results also show some evidence regarding Wirl (2008) that OPEC includes political support as part of its objective function when it comes to oil extraction. |
| Keywords: | OPEC; Price Controls; Energy Economics; Oil |
| JEL: | C00 C20 Q40 Q30 |
| Date: | 2011–11–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34624&r=cwa |
| By: | Hilal Atasoy (Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes information communication technology (ICT) use and skills of workers, and their effects on employment opportunities. I employ a confidential data set provided by Statistical Institute of Turkey that includes detailed surveys on ICT use by households and individuals. The data contains information on ICT skills: starting from the most basic ones such as using an excel spreadsheet and uploading or transferring files, to more advanced skills such as knowing a programming language and solving computer problems. Workers that have ICT skills are more likely to be employed when individual and household level observables are held constant. However, this positive relationship is due to the workers who gained these skills at work. This data suggests there is no causal direction from ICT skills to employment and the positive relationship is due to endogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Information communication technologies, ICT skills, employment |
| JEL: | J24 O30 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1124&r=cwa |
| By: | Hilal Atasoy (Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the adoption and use of information communication technologies (ICTs) by firms and their effects on employment and wages. I use a confidential data set from Turkey that includes detailed surveys focused on how ICTs and the Internet are used by firms. By using the rich survey data, I create an ICT index summarizing ICT adoption and use, along with the skills of the firms, where each category takes into account many applications. The firms with different levels of ICTs differ in many characteristics. I use the generalized propensity score matching method in order to compare firms that are similar in many dimensions such as industry, location, investments, profits, trade balance, and output. I find positive effects of ICTs on employment and wages that are diminishing after a certain level of ICTs. These significant effects are due to an increase in ICT-generated jobs and not due to an increase in non-ICT jobs in the short-run. The effects on non-ICT employment become significant a couple years after investments in ICTs. This implies a change in the skill composition of the firms with higher intensity of ICT use, especially in the short run. |
| Keywords: | Information communication technologies, skilled-biased technical change, employment |
| JEL: | J21 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1123&r=cwa |
| By: | Ron Alquist; Olivier Gervais |
| Abstract: | Over the past 10 years, financial firms have increased the size of their positions in the oil futures market. At the same time, oil prices have increased dramatically. The conjunction of these developments has led some observers to argue that financial speculation caused the run-up in oil prices. Yet several arguments cast doubt on the validity of this claim. First, although the stock of open futures contracts is many times larger than the flow of oil consumption in the United States, comparing these two statistics is misleading. Stocks are not measured with respect to a specific unit of time but flows are, so the two are not directly comparable. Second, empirical analysis shows that changes in financial firms’ positions do not predict oil-price changes, but that oil-price changes predict changes in positions. Third, the evidence indicates that financial firms’ positions did not cause the market to expect persistent price increases during 2007/08. Other explanations for the increase in oil prices include macroeconomic fundamentals, such as interest rates and increased demand from emerging Asia. Of these two explanations, the one that seems most consistent with the facts explains oil-price fluctuations in terms of large and persistent demand shocks related to growth in global real activity in the presence of supply constraints. |
| Keywords: | International topics |
| JEL: | Q41 G12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocadp:11-6&r=cwa |
| By: | Dietrich, Antje-Mareike; Sieg, Gernot |
| Abstract: | This article shows that in the presence of environmental externalities, it may be welfare enhancing to overcome a technological lock-in by a deadend technology through governmental intervention. It is socially desirable to subsidize a dead-end technology if its environmental externality is small relative to the one of the established technology, if the installed base and/or the strength of the network effect is small and if future generations matter. Applying our results to the private transport sector, governments promoting alternatives to gasoline-driven vehicles have to be aware of these opposing welfare effects. -- |
| Keywords: | environmental externalities,network effects,private transport,technological change |
| JEL: | O33 L92 Q55 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tbswps:12&r=cwa |
| By: | Subhani, Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz; Osman, Ms. Amber; Lakhiya, Zubair |
| Abstract: | Does economic growth need Democracy? Or is it the non democratic rule that may pave the way to produce economic prosperity in the country like Pakistan? These queries have developed many arguments, which after decades emerge no nearer to being resolved. This study takes a nearer gaze at the contentions behind these inquiries and tries to clarify the linkages of Democracy/ Non-Democratic rule with economic growth. Precisely this paper is an attempt to investigate the Economic performance in Pakistan while considering the role of democratic Government and non-democratic Government in comparison. More traditional methods of comparative institutional analysis are used to understand the mechanisms through which Democracy or Autocracy either helps or hinders the process of development and growth. The results revealed and concluded that overall performance/ growth of economy of Pakistan is far better in Non-Democratic Government than the Democratic rule. |
| Keywords: | Economic Performance; Growth; Democracy; Non-Democratic Government |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34732&r=cwa |
| By: | Charles Yuji Horioka; Akiko Terada-Hagiwara |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present data on trends over time in domestic saving rates in twelve economies in developing Asia during the 1966-2007 period and analyze the determinants of these trends. We find that domestic saving rates in developing Asia have, in general, been high and rising but that there have been substantial differences from economy to economy and that the main determinants of these trends appear to have been the age structure of the population (especially the aged dependency ratio), income levels, and the level of financial sector development. We then project future trends in domestic saving rates in developing Asia for the 2011-2030 period based on our estimation results and find that the domestic saving rate in developing Asia as a whole will remain roughly constant during the next two decades despite rapid population aging in some economies in developing Asia because population aging will occur much later in other economies and because the negative impact of population aging on the domestic saving rate will be largely offset by the positive impact of higher income levels. |
| JEL: | D91 E21 G10 J11 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17581&r=cwa |
| By: | Subhani, Dr.Muhammad Imtiaz; Osman, Ms.Amber |
| Abstract: | The paper is an emphasis on the financial sustainability of micro financing in Pakistan where Banks and institution use different products & services that help in reducing the poverty by coping up with subjective & objective poverty, this study found that banks were more commercialized in terms of payback & interest rates while engaged in micro financing but despite that Banks are endeavoring more ventures to uplift poverty in Pakistan through micro financing to poor. |
| Keywords: | micro finance; microfinance banks; microfinance institutions; poverty |
| JEL: | N27 G21 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34722&r=cwa |
| By: | Baten, Joerg; Julia, Muschallik |
| Abstract: | How many economic historians are there in the world? In which countries or world regions are they concentrated? Can we explain differences in the number of economic historians who are participating in world congresses, and which determinants encourage or limit participation propensity? Using an e-mail questionnaire, we analyse the global situation of this discipline. Overall 59 countries were available to be surveyed in this overview. We estimate the overall number of economic historians in the world to be around 10,400 scholars. |
| Keywords: | Economic history; world; survey |
| JEL: | N01 A11 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34704&r=cwa |
| By: | Vincenzo Bove (Department of Government, Universiry of Essex); Jennifer Brauner (Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics, Birkbeck) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how the influence of the military differs across authoritarian regimes and verify whether there are actually systematic differences in military expenditures amongst different forms of dictatorships. We argue that public choices in autocracies result from a struggle for power between the leader and the elite. Elites matter because they control the fates of dictators, since most dictators are overthrown by members of their inner circle. Both actors want to ensure their continued political influence through a favorable allocation of the government budget. Moreover, the control over the security forces gives access to troops and weaponry, and affects the ease with which elites can unseat dic¬tators. Autocratic rulers employ different bundles of co-option and repression for staying in power, and thus differ in the extent that they are required to buy off the military. Therefore, the institutional makeup of dictatorships affects the nature of leader-elite interaction, and in turn the share of the government budget allocated to military spending. Drawing on a new data set that sorts dictatorships into 5 categories from 1960 to 2000, our empirical results suggest that while military and personalist regimes have respectively the highest and lowest level of military spending among authoritarian regimes, monarchies and single-party regimes display intermediate patterns of spending. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, Military Expenditure |
| JEL: | H11 H56 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbk:bbkefp:1106&r=cwa |
| By: | Aravindakshan, Sreejith |
| Abstract: | Alien invasive species are non-native organisms that occur outside their natural adapted habitat and dispersal potential. They are seen as a threat not only to biodiversity and ecosystems, but also to socioeconomic development, livelihood and human well-being. In India, the bioinvasion of coconut palms by an alien invasive mite species Aceria guerreronis, popularly known as ‘Coconut mite’ accounting for enormous economic loss was first noticed just before the start of the new millennium. Among the plantation crops, coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is of prime importance in the marginal homesteads of tropical India. India is the third largest coconut producer with plantation area of 1.9 million hectares and estimated production of 12.8 billion nuts per annum. Coconut sector in India accounts for about 22.36% of the world production while contributes approximately US $1600 million to the total GDP of India, besides providing livelihood securities to more than 10 million people in the country. Every part of the coconut palm is used and has found use in more than 700 products here. During the period 2001–02, mite attack has affected nearly 22.36 million coconut palms in 98,400 hectares in prime coconut producing state ‘Kerala’ in India. The percentage reduction in nut weight due to mite infestation was assessed to be 2.12 %. Mite damaged underweight and undersized nuts are often discarded by the traders inflicting heavy losses to the growers. Additionally, mite damage resulted in loss of 20—30% in terms of copra yield and also increased labour due to difficulty in de-husking of affected nuts. This paper hence seeks to study socioeconomic and livelihood impact of the coconut mite and also estimates the economic loss in monetary terms from documentary evidence. The present study estimates the control costs incurred by Indian government and various agencies to manage coconut mite in India from 1998–2008 as US $ 77.88 million. A gap analysis using sustainable livelihood index (SLI) framework of unpublished primary data collected during the peak year of infestation (yr. 2002) among coconut growing households [N=120] in two villages of Kerala showed a difference of 56.26% between the potential and achieved livelihood impact. |
| Keywords: | Aceria guerreronis; bioinvasion; coconut; India; invasive species; livelihood impact; socioeconomic impact |
| JEL: | Q00 Q0 Q12 Q18 |
| Date: | 2011–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34676&r=cwa |
| By: | Subhani, Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz; Osman, Ms. Amber; Khokhar, Rabia |
| Abstract: | World trade has grown rapidly. Several factors are highlighted by literature as the driving forces behind the growth of world trade. Reductions in barriers to trade are one of them. A comprehensive empirical investigation is carried to ascertain the trade reducing and increasing effect of barriers to trade and facilitators to trade. The new version of gravity model is developed in the connections in this study while analyzing the effect of GDP, distance, remittances, FDI, transportation cost, exchange rate, inflation, population, import and export of specifically trading partners on trade flows during bilateral trade. The study revealed that the developed version of gravity model explains the trade flows substantially and vigorously for the nations from developed world than for the nations from developing world. |
| Keywords: | Gravity model; Export; Import; Trade barriers; Trade facilitators |
| JEL: | O1 O16 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34727&r=cwa |
| By: | Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (IMDEA Social Sciences Institute); Kristina Maslauskaite (College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | In the last decade, Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have witnessed a rapid economic convergence vis-à-vis Western Europe. However, this rapid growth has not been matched by a similarly rapid increase in life satisfaction, which has remained low in the European context. This paper sets out to address this conundrum, by looking at the individual and macro-level determinants of individual life satisfaction in ten CEE countries. The results highlight that while Central and Eastern Europeans share the same individual determinants of happiness as people in the West (despite some significant cross-country variation), macroeconomic and institutional differences are the key factors behind the lack of convergence in life satisfaction. On the macroeconomic side, GDP growth is still a source of increasing well-being, but the happiness bonus associated with it is becoming smaller. The different levels of individual happiness in CEE are therefore mostly determined by institutional factors such as corruption, government spending and decentralisation, making policies aimed at enhancing institutional quality capable of bringing about substantial improvements in the overall life satisfaction of the people in the region. |
| Keywords: | Happiness; Convergence; Easterlin paradox; Institutions; Corruption; Decentralisation; Central and Eastern Europe |
| Date: | 2011–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2011-19&r=cwa |
| By: | Stefano Bartolini; Francesco Sarracino |
| Abstract: | What does predict the evolution over time of subjective well-being? We answer this question correlating cross country time series of subjective well-being with the time series of social capital and/or GDP. First, we adopt a bivariate methodology similar to the one used used by Stevenson and Wolfers (2008), Sacks et al. (2010), Easterlin and Angelescu (2009), Easterlin et al. (2010). We find that in the long (at least 15 years) and medium run (6 years) social capital is a powerful predictor of the evolution of subjective well-being. In the short-term (2 years) this relationship weakens. Indeed, short run changes in social capital predict a much smaller portion of the changes in subjective well-being, compared to longer periods. GDP follows a reverse path: in the short run it is more positively correlated to the changes in well-being than in the medium-term, while in the long run the correlation vanishes. Secondly, we run trivariate regressions of time series of subjective well-being on time series of both social capital and GDP, which confirm the results from bivariate analysis. |
| Keywords: | Easterlin paradox; GDP; economic growth; subjective well-being; happiness; life satisfaction; social capital; time-series; short run; medium run; long run; WVS; EVS; ESS; time-series. |
| JEL: | D60 I31 O10 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:621&r=cwa |