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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Ajit Zacharias; Thomas Masterson; Emel Memis |
| Abstract: | Gauging the severity of poverty in a given country requires a reasonably comprehensive measurement of whether individuals and households are surpassing some basic threshold of material well-being. This would seem to be an obvious point, and yet, in most cases, our official poverty metrics fail that test, often due to a crucial omission. In this policy brief, Senior Scholar Ajit Zacharias, Research Scholar Thomas Masterson, and Research Associate Emel MemiÅŸ present an alternative measure of poverty for Turkey and lay out the policy lessons that follow. Their research reveals that the number of people living in poverty and the severity of their deprivation have been significantly underestimated. This report is part of an ongoing Levy Institute project on time poverty (the Levy Institute Measure of Time and Income Poverty), which has produced research on Latin America, Korea, and now Turkey, with the aim of extending this approach to other countries. |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levppb:ppb_132&r=cwa |
| By: | Andrew Beath; Fotini Christia; Georgy Egorov; Ruben Enikolopov |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of electoral rules on the quality of elected officials using a unique field experiment which induced randomized variation in the method of council elections in 250 villages in Afghanistan. In particular, we compare at-large elections, with a single multi-member district, to district elections, with multiple single member districts. We propose a theoretical model where the difference in the quality of elected officials between the two electoral systems occurs because elected legislators have to bargain over policy, which induces citizens in district elections to vote strategically for candidates with more polarized policy positions even at the expense of candidates' competence. Consistent with the predictions of the model, we find that elected officials in at-large elections are more educated than those in district elections and that this effect is stronger in more heterogeneous villages. We also find evidence that elected officials in district elections have more biased preferences. |
| JEL: | D72 D78 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20082&r=cwa |
| By: | Basak Dalgic (Department of Public Finance, Hacettepe University); Burcu Fazlioglu (Department of International Entrepreneurship, TOBB ETU University); Deniz Karaoglan (Department of Economics, METU) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of international trading activities of firms on creating productivity gains in Turkey by using a recent firm level dataset over the period 2003-2010. We establish treatment models and investigate the productivity improvements of firms through trade by using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques along with Difference-in-Difference (DID) estimates. Three different groups of treatment are constructed: (i) firms that involve only in importing activities, (ii) firms that involve only in exporting activities, (iii) firms that involve in both exporting and importing activities. The results of the study suggest that both exporting and importing have positive significant effects on total factor productivity (TFP) and labor productivity (LP) of firms. Importing is found to have a greater impact on productivity of firms compared to exporting. Further, two-way trade is found to have more significant effects than those of one-way trade on firm productivity Finally, our results indicate that international trade has greater impact on LP rather than TFP of firms. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, Imports, Exports, Propensity Score Matching. |
| JEL: | F10 D21 D24 C21 C23 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1403&r=cwa |
| By: | Khani Hoolari, Seyed Morteza; Abounoori, Abbas Ali; Mohammadi, Teymour |
| Abstract: | Empirical literature that examines the determinants of inflation in Iran has suggested inflation as a monetary phenomenon. This study investigates the effect of political instability and governance parameters on inflation in Iran over 1959 to 2010. This research sought to identify the profound factors which determine inflation in Iran. Using a combination of the predictions of Fiscal Theory of Price Level (FTPL) determination and Political Economy of Macroeconomic Policy (PEMP) literature and applying the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), we study this relationship through two different models. The results of monetary model indicate that the effects of monetary determinants depend on the political environment of Iran. The political model expresses a positive relationship between inflation and political instability and governance parameters. |
| Keywords: | Governance Political instability Major Cabinet Changes Government Crisis Inflation |
| JEL: | C52 O38 P48 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55827&r=cwa |
| By: | Myrdal, Janken (Dept. of Economic History, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Agricultural literature is one of the most important and oldest non-fictions genres in the world. This text gives us the first overview of extant agricultural treatises in Eurasia before c. 1500. With this overview, it is possible to give a better foundation to discussions on the role of knowledge. This literature also gives us indications about the importance of agriculture in different periods for a number of regions in Eurasia. An important part is discussion on method. The goal is to arrive at comparable numbers – to form the basis for analyze. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural history; Knowledge; Eurasia |
| JEL: | N13 N15 N50 |
| Date: | 2014–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:suekhi:0015&r=cwa |