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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Greulich,Angela; Dasre,Aurélien; Inan,Ceren |
| Abstract: | In Turkey, female employment and education are still relatively low, while fertility levels are high compared with other European countries. However, Turkey stands just at the edge of an important social transition. Increasing female education and employment come along with important decreases in fertility. By mobilizing census and survey data, this paper finds that fertility decreases are mainly caused by fewer transitions to a third birth. Graduate women participating in the formal labor market are most at risk of deciding against child arrival in comparison with inactive or unemployed women. The third rank is particularly concerned, as women?s income contribution seems to be crucial for many families that already have two children, and the arrival of a third child risks reducing or stopping women?s working activities in the absence of institutional childcare support. Policies enabling women to combine work and family life, which have been proven effective in other European countries, emerge as useful to avoid a further fertility decline below replacement level in Turkey. |
| Date: | 2015–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7310&r=cwa |
| By: | Cuberes,David; Teignier,Marc |
| Abstract: | In this paper, survey data are used to document the presence of gender gaps in self-employment, employership, and labor force participation in seven Balkan countries and Turkey. The paper examines the quantitative effects of the gender gaps on aggregate productivity and income per capita in these countries. In the model used to carry out this calculation, agents choose between being workers, self-employed, or employers, and women face several restrictions in the labor market. The data display very large gaps in labor force participation and in the percentage of employers and self-employed in the labor force. In almost all cases, these gaps reveal a clear underrepresentation of women. The calculations show that, on average, the loss associated with these gaps is about 17 percent of income per capita. One-third of this loss is due to distortions in the choice of occupations between men and women. The remaining two-thirds corresponds to the costs associated with gaps in labor force participation. The dimensions of these gender gaps and their associated costs vary considerably across age groups, with the age bracket 36?50 years being responsible for most of the losses. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Educational Sciences,Population Policies,Labor Policies,Gender and Development |
| Date: | 2015–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7319&r=cwa |
| By: | Buriev, Abdul Aziz; Masih, Mansur |
| Abstract: | The current political changes in the Arab countries have raised concerns about the behaviour of stock markets in the region. It brings an expectation of distortions in the behaviour of the regional financial markets. This study aims at analysing the dynamic relationship between Middle Eastern and North African equity markets exposed to the Arab Spring, namely Turkey, Egypt, Oman, and Lebanon, using Multivariate GARCH-DCC and Wavelet Coherence techniques on weekly data spanning from 2005 to 2015. We employ Multivariate GARCH-DCC to find out the time-varying volatilities and correlations between the markets, and Wavelet Coherence based on Continuous Wavelet Transform followed by the multiscale variance, covariance, and correlations based on Maximal Overlap Discrete Wavelet Transform are used for multi-resolution analysis to see the pattern of interactions between the stock markets across the time-scales: low, medium, and high. The findings tend to suggest that the correlations between the stock markets are quite low all over the period: on average, about 4% until the Global Financial Crisis and 10% afterwards. In general, the volatilities are relatively stable, except for the global financial turmoil period. In particular, equity markets of Lebanon and Egypt display a slightly higher volatility during the Arab Spring. It means that the Turkish investors who have allocated their investments in major trading partners like Egypt may not experience great diversification benefits for almost all investment horizons related to higher trade intensity but moderate benefits arise for Lebanon up to the investment horizons of 32-64 days and longer. However, portfolio diversification benefits are greater if Turkish investors invest in the Oman stock index except during long investment horizons. As for the long run, stock holding periods exceeding 32-64 days have minimal benefits for portfolio diversification. As an implication, Turkish investors should carry out the reassessment of their stock exposures and investment horizons more frequently. |
| Keywords: | Arab uprisings, portfolio diversification, MGARCH-DCC, Wavelet Coherence |
| JEL: | C22 C58 G11 |
| Date: | 2015–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:65233&r=cwa |
| By: | Salih Ye (Kaahmramanmara); Ahmet Kaya (Akdeniz Un,versty) |
| Abstract: | Today’s global and uncertain business world transform the way business is conducted. Companies need to pay attention to the innovation and innovation capabilities for the survival, success and growth. Innovation provides several strategic advantages (e.g., better performance outcomes, efficiency, productivity and competitive advantages) to all types of organisations. This study focuses on innovation capability and explores its effect on firm financial performance. The hypothesis is drawn from existent related literature. Data is collected from fifty four SMEs operating in Gaziantep city of Turkey and tested through correlation and regression analyses. The results reveal that innovation capability is positively related to sales growth but not to the return on assets. The findings and implications are discussed in relation to theory and previous empirical studies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Innovation Capability, Performance, Financial Performance, SMEs |
| JEL: | O31 L25 M10 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:2303841&r=cwa |
| By: | Fatma Zeynep Özata (Anadolu University) |
| Abstract: | A mobile app is a computer (software) program designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices (Wikipedia). The increased use of mobile devices and mobile Internet has led to an explosion of the development and download of mobile applications. Businesses started competing to have a mobile application to gain competitive advantage or stay competitive. But despite the success of some, the majority of mobile applications fails outright or is not as successful as expected. So this study aims to define the factors that affect user satisfaction as a success measure of mobile applications. I/S Success Model is used as a basis for this study, and the model is expanded with the constructs related to flow. The research framework includes seven antecedents (system reliability and design, perceived ease of use, content usefulness, content quality, focused attention, perceived enjoyment, and flow) of user satisfaction that were derived from existing information systems, m-commerce and applications literature. The structural equation modeling (SEM) method was applied to evaluate the hypothesized relationships among the constructs in the theoretical model developed. The results of the study showed that system quality and information quality are important determinants of user satisfaction, but flow does not have a direct influence on user satisfaction. The most striking finding of this study is that perceived enjoyment is a significant determinant of satisfaction with mobile applications. Based on the findings, companies involved in m-commerce should focus on not only to improve the usefulness or quality of the system but also the design features of the applications that enhance enjoyment and the experience must also be considered carefully. |
| Keywords: | M-commerce, Mobile applications, User satisfaction, System quality, Content quality, Flow experience, Perceived enjoyment, Hedonism |
| JEL: | M31 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:2304356&r=cwa |