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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn, Germany and Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo, Egypt); Deniz Karaoglan (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University) |
| Abstract: | This is the first study which provides empirical analysis of the variation in health behaviors for adult men and women in Turkey which is a developing country. The health behaviors considered are smoking, drinking, fruit and vegetable consumption, exercise and body mass index (BMI). We find that in Turkey education is the most important factor that affects the health behaviors. The results indicate that smoking is positively associated with education at all levels with a decreasing effect with the level of education unlike in the developed countries. This result indicates that smoking is a serious public health problem in Turkey at all levels of education. Further, alcohol consumption and schooling are positively related and it increases by the level of education. Higher educated individuals clearly eat more fruits, vegetables and exercise more and their BMI levels are in the normal range compared to less educated and illiterate. We also highlight the importance of demographic factors, labor market status and household income. We use Health Survey of Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) for years 2008, 2010 and 2012. This study will provide a baseline for further studies on the various aspects of health behaviors in Turkey. |
| Keywords: | Health Behaviors, Education, Demographic Factors, Turkey. |
| JEL: | I10 I12 I19 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1414&r=cwa |
| By: | Elif Oznur Acar (Department of Banking and Finance, Cankaya University); Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, METU; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn, Germany; Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo, Egypt) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how informality can be defined and measured in the Turkish labor market. Two alternative definitions of informality are used to explore their relevance and implications for the Turkish labor market using descriptive statistics. They are the enterprise definition and the social security definition. Further, contributions of individual and job characteristics to the likelihood of informality are investigated using multivariate probit analysis under the two definitions. The social security registration criterion is found to be a better measure of informality in the Turkish labor market given its ability to capture the key relationships between several individual and employment characteristics and the likelihood of informality. The study suggests that preference should be given to social security definition of labor informality for a more accurate depiction of the Turkish labor market. The suitability of the two alternative definitions of informality in the Turkish labor market and its implications have not been investigated before. |
| Keywords: | Informality, Definition, Measurement and Likelihood, Turkey. |
| JEL: | J20 J21 J24 O17 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1409&r=cwa |
| By: | Berberoglu, Giray (Middle East Technical University); Tansel, Aysit (Middle East Technical University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effectiveness of private tutoring in Turkey. The authors introduce their study by providing some background information on the two major national examinations and three different kinds of tutoring. They then describe how they aimed to analyse whether attending private tutoring centres (PTCs) enhances Turkish students' academic performance. By way of multiple linear regression analysis, their study sought to evaluate whether the impact of private tutoring varies in different subject areas, taking into account several student-related characteristics such as family and academic backgrounds as well as interest in and perception of academic success. In terms of subject areas, the results indicate that while private tutoring does have a positive impact on academic performance in mathematics and Turkish language, this is not the case in natural sciences. However, as evidenced by the effect sizes, these impacts are rather small compared to the impacts of other variables such as interest in and perception of academic success, high school graduation fields of study, high school cumulative grade point average (CGPA), parental education and students' sociocultural background. While the authors point out that more research on the impact of further important variables needs to be done, their view is that school seems to be an important factor for determining students' academic performance. |
| Keywords: | private tutoring, academic performance, regression analysis, Turkey |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8343&r=cwa |
| By: | Berberoglu, Giray; Tansel, Aysit |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effectiveness of private tutoring in Turkey. The authors introduce their study by providing some background information on the two major national examinations and three different kinds of tutoring. They then describe how they aimed to analyse whether attending private tutoring centres (PTCs) enhances Turkish students’ academic performance. By way of multiple linear regression analysis, their study sought to evaluate whether the impact of private tutoring varies in different subject areas, taking into account several student-related characteristics such as family and academic backgrounds as well as interest in and perception of academic success. In terms of subject areas, the results indicate that while private tutoring does have a positive impact on academic performance in mathematics and Turkish language, this is not the case in natural sciences. However, as evidenced by the effect sizes, these impacts are rather small compared to the impacts of other variables such as interest in and perception of academic success, high school graduation fields of study, high school cumulative grade point average (CGPA), parental education and students’ sociocultural background. While the authors point out that more research on the impact of further important variables needs to be done, their view is that school seems to be an important factor for determining students’ academic performance. |
| Keywords: | Private tutoring, Academic Performance, Regression analysis, Turkey |
| JEL: | I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2014–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:57370&r=cwa |
| By: | Magali Aubert (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA); Jean Marie Codron (Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, INRA); Sylvain Rousset (Institut National de Recherche en Sciences et Technologies pour l'Environnement et l'Agriculture); Murat Yercan (Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ege University) |
| Abstract: | In most competitive fresh fruit and vegetables chains, growers are faced with the need to comply with the requirements of increasingly safety demanding customers. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices have become a true solution for small scale growers that could not afford the cost of a GAP certificate. While literature on farmer adoption of IPM practices focuses on farmer and farm characteristics, only a few authors underline the importance of technology, marketing and pesticides safety control. Moreover, only a few papers have studied IPM adoption in developing or emerging countries. Our paper aims to fill this gap by focusing on Turkey, an emerging country with dominant small scale growers, where diffusion of IPM is still in its infancy. It also takes into account factors that go beyond the farmers and farm characteristics that are usually addressed by literature. 186 tomato growers have been surveyed in the province of Antalya, a region of Turkey supplying 85% of the national production of tomato grown under greenhouse. IPM adoption has been represented by two indicators : a counter of the eleven most salient IPM practices and a three-tier level of intensity of adoption (high, medium, low). Our analysis confirms most of our predictions and highlights the role of innovative factors such as technology, farming system characteristics, marketing and safety control. |
| Keywords: | integrated pest management, farmers, tomato, determinants of adoption, turkey, turquieproduit frais, fruit, legume frais, tomatesécurité sanitaire, lutte intégrée, gestion intégréepesticide |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inr:wpaper:226138&r=cwa |
| By: | Koray Alper (Central Bank of Turkey); Mahir Binici (Central Bank of Turkey); Selva Demiralp (Department of Economics, Koc University); Hakan Kara (Central Bank of Turkey); Pinar Ozlu (Central Bank of Turkey) |
| Abstract: | Many central banks in emerging economies have used reserve requirements (RR) to alleviate the trade-off between financial stability and price stability in recent years. Notwithstanding their widespread use, transmission channels of RR have remained largely as a black-box. In this paper, we use bank-level data to explore the interaction between RR and bank lending behavior. Our empirical findings suggest that short-term borrowing from the central bank is not a close substitute for deposits for banks. Bank lending behavior responds significantly to reserve requirements and liquidity positions. Our analysis allows us to identify a new channel that we name as the “liquidity channel”. The channel works through a decline in bank liquidity and loan supply due to an increase in reserve requirements. |
| Keywords: | Monetary transmission mechanism; liquidity risk; bank lending channel; Turkey. |
| JEL: | E44 E51 E52 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1416&r=cwa |
| By: | Suleymanov, Elchin; Yusifov, Sabuhi |
| Abstract: | After re-gaining its independence on 18 October 1991, the Republic of Azerbaijan started the transformation to the market-based economy and the integration into the world economy. The country’s oil and natural gas reserves have been considered the main source for financing a range of government programs for reforms. On the one hand, these reserves had to be used effectively; on the other hand, there was a huge demand for foreign investment for extraction. To this end, Azerbaijan has signed “Contract of the Century” in 1994. Although Azerbaijan has wide oil and natural gas reserves, it has faced a number of difficulties in its transition path. This study analyzes these problems and reforms for solving them. One of the types of the problems related to the economic structure of the former Soviet Union: disruption of the economic ties between the republics resulted in a decline of production, high levels of unemployment and prices and consequently led to an economic recession in all of the republics. Another set of problems related to the lack of sufficient institutional bases to transform to the market economy. Moreover, internal conflicts between the political parties and groups for having authority as well as political chaos in the republic can be considered other serious problems during the transition period. Furthermore, Karabakh war and occupation of 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory by the Armenian military forces had made the situation extremely complicated. Despite all of these extremes, Azerbaijan transformed to the market-based economy decidedly and even became one of the fast growing countries of the world. Even in 2013, with the GDP growth rate of 5.6 percent, Azerbaijan was a leader among growing economies. In parallel with this significant economic development, there is still a need for some socio-economic and institutional reforms in order to get a well-functioning market-based economy in Azerbaijan. |
| Keywords: | Azerbaijan, oil, natural gas, informal sector, energy resources, oil dependency |
| JEL: | P2 P21 |
| Date: | 2014–07–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:57802&r=cwa |
| By: | Cullen S. Hendrix (Peterson Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | Anecdotal evidence suggests high oil prices embolden leaders in oil-rich states to pursue more aggressive foreign policies. This article tests the conjecture in a sample of 153 countries for the time period 1947–2001. It finds strong evidence of a contingent effect of oil prices on interstate disputes, with high oil prices associated with signifi cant increases in dispute behavior among oil-exporting states, while having either a negative or null effect on dispute behavior in nonexporting states. |
| Keywords: | oil, conflict, diplomacy, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, resource curse |
| JEL: | D74 F51 Q41 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp14-3&r=cwa |