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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Kuşlu, Göksel |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to look into the effects of the accession negotiations between the EU and Turkey on Turkey's employment and social policies and attempts to assess the level of compliance of the Turkish legislation with the EU Acquis in this field. As a candidate country, Turkey is required to transpose and implement the EU Acquis on employment and social policy, which constitutes the 19th chapter in the EUTurkey negotiation process. This sine qua non condition for the accession provided a catalyst for legislative and institutional reforms with regards to employment rights, social dialogue, health and safety at work, gender equality and non-discrimination. It was found that Turkish legislation is in compliance or mostly complies circa 70% of the EU Directives in employment and social policy field. The analysis based on indicators also revealed that Turkey lagged far behind its European counterparts exactly in those social and employment policy areas where the highest compliance deficits were observed. |
| Keywords: | Turkey-EU relations,accession negotiations,EU acquis,employment and social policy,employment and social indicators |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ekhdps:315&r=cwa |
| By: | Cahit Guven; Gizem Nur Han; Zolzaya Luvsandorj; Mehmet Ulubasoglu |
| Abstract: | The Gallipoli Campaign was one of the hardest fought wars in modern human history. A manmade disaster that occurred exactly 100 years ago on a narrow geographic strip on the Gallipoli peninsula, it claimed the lives of a total of approximately 120,000 soldiers from the belligerent powers, the Ottoman Empire on one side, and Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, British India and Newfoundland, on the other. Despite its significance in the world history, the Gallipoli Campaign has been subject to little systematic investigation for its consequences. We empirically examine the effects of this war on children who lived in Anatolia and were aged under five in 1915. Combining the Turkish census data with military records that provide information on the number of Turkish soldiers killed in the Gallipoli Campaign from each of 67 provinces in Turkey, we find significant evidence that the war severely affected the socioeconomic outcomes of many survivor children later in life. Our estimates document that, for every additional 1,000 soldiers killed from a province, indicating the severity of the war exposure, children from that province lost 0.12 to 0.17 years of schooling, or were 1.3% to 2.5% more likely to remain illiterate. These are substantive effects given that average years of schooling in our whole sample is 1.47 years and literacy rate is 34%. Our results are robust to controlling for birth-year- and birth-province-fixed effects, falsification tests, and alternative definitions of treatment. |
| Keywords: | Gallipoli War, children, socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood, treatment |
| Date: | 2015–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dkn:econwp:eco_2015_8&r=cwa |
| By: | International Monetary Fund |
| Abstract: | This Selected Issues paper analyzes scope for further de-dollarization policies in Armenia. High financial dollarization makes Armenia more vulnerable to external shocks and limits its capacity to respond. The de-dollarization strategy is broad and comprehensive, and has achieved a reduction of deposit dollarization during the past few years. Additional efforts should focus on reducing inflation volatility and external imbalances, using prudential regulations to increase foreign currency liquidity in the banking system, and strengthening the monitoring of currency mismatches. International experience suggests, however, that further reductions in dollarization are likely to occur only gradually. |
| Keywords: | Foreign exchange;Dollarization;Exchange rates;Fiscal policy;Selected Issues Papers;Armenia; |
| Date: | 2015–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfscr:15/66&r=cwa |
| By: | Shahbaz, Muhammad; Sherafatian-Jahromi, Reza; Malik, Muhammad Nasir; Shabbir, Muhammad Shahbaz; Jam, Farooq Ahmed |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes in economic literature by investigating the impact of defense spending on income inequality in case of Iran using time series data over the period of 1971-2011. For this purpose, we have applied the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration for long run relationship in the presence of structural breaks arising in the series. The stationarity properties of the variables are tested using structural break unit root tests. The causal relationship between defense spending and income inequality is examined by employing the VECM Granger causality approach. Our findings validate the long run relationship between the series. The results indicate that defense spending improves income distribution in Iran. An inverted-U shaped relationship exists between defense spending and income inequality while economic growth reduces income inequality. The causality analysis reveals that defense spending Granger causes income inequality and feedback effect exists between income inequality and economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Defense Spending, Income Inequality |
| JEL: | C5 |
| Date: | 2015–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:63642&r=cwa |
| By: | Pritha Mitra; Amr Hosny; Gohar Abajyan; Mark Fischer |
| Abstract: | The Middle East and Central Asia’s economic growth potential is slowing faster than in other emerging and developing regions, dampening hopes for reducing persistent unemployment and improving the region’s generally low living standards. Why? And is it possible to alter this course? This paper addresses these questions by estimating potential growth, examining its supply-side drivers, and assessing which of them could be most effective in raising potential growth. The analysis reveals that the region’s potential growth is expected to slow by ¾ of a percentage point more than the EMDC average over the next five years. The reasons behind this slowdown differ across the region. Lower productivity growth drives the slowdown in the Caucasus and Central Asia and is also weighing on growth across the Middle East (MENAP); while a lower labor contribution to potential growth is the main driver in MENAP. Moving forward, given some natural constraints on labor, total factor productivity growth is key to unlocking the region’s higher growth potential. For oil importers, raising physical capital accumulation through greater investment will also play an important role. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth;Middle East and Central Asia;Economic conditions;Potential output;Total factor productivity;Regional economics;potential growth, productivity, output gap, production function, Middle East and Central Asia |
| Date: | 2015–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:15/62&r=cwa |
| By: | International Monetary Fund |
| Abstract: | This 2014 Article IV Consultation highlights that after a steady recovery during 2010–12 from the deep 2009 recession, Armenia’s growth softened in 2013 and has remained subdued in 2014. The softening of economic activity has been broad based, as growth of exports and remittances slowed, and government spending was lower than budgeted. Construction, which had declined since the 2009 crisis, was relatively flat. Growth is projected at 2.6 percent in 2014 and is expected to increase only gradually in 2015 and over the medium term in light of expectations of slow growth in key trading partners. The authorities’ policies remain geared toward maintaining macroeconomic stability and fostering sustainable and inclusive growth. |
| Keywords: | Article IV consultation reports;Economic growth;Fiscal policy;Pension reforms;Monetary policy;Exchange rate assessments;Economic indicators;Debt sustainability analysis;Letters of Intent;Staff Reports;Press releases;Extended arrangement reviews;Armenia; |
| Date: | 2015–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfscr:15/65&r=cwa |