|
on Central and Western Asia |
|
Issue of 2015‒11‒01
seventeen papers chosen by Christian Zimmermann Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis |
| By: | Meerim Sydykova |
| Abstract: | The Kyrgyz Republic is a country with transition economy. Its growth performance is constantly one of the lowest compared to other CIS countries. Growth rates reduce due to strong political instability and high corruption level in the country. Despite being leading reformer in the region, the Kyrgyz Republic has not done enough to solve the key problems. The main objective of this paper is to identify the most problematic and binding constraints for economic growth in the Kyrgyz Republic. Growth Diagnostic approach proposed by Hausmann et al. (2005) is applied in order to identify the most binding constraints. The analysis is based on qualitative and quantitative data on economic indicators at national and international levels. The CIS countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were chosen as comparator group of countries. Data for this study were collected from the research, publications, reports of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as statistical data published by the World Bank, IMF?s World Economic Outlook, UNDATA, Economic Freedom network, Global economic Forum, the Heritage Foundation and etc.. Time period is from 2004 till 2013 years. The results of the study were used to identify the most problematic factors for economic growth of the country. The study indicates that the most binding constraints for economic growth in the Kyrgyz Republic are (a) widespread corruption, (b) weak property rights, (c) inefficient energy sector and (d) low quality of education system. The same results were confirmed by ADB studies that found corruption level is the highest compared to other CIS countries and it is the strongest obstacle for growth. Despite the fact that the Kyrgyz Republic is the second richest country in water resources, it faces number of problems such as low productivity, outdated equipment from Soviet Union era, shortage of qualified workers and low efficiency. Lack of qualified labor force and low quality of education system is also binding constraint for growth for The Kyrgyz Republic. The Kyrgyz Republic ranked the lowest in comparison with comparator countries on all indicators assessing the quality and quantity of educational system. This paper is organized as follows: section 2 provides literature review on Growth Diagnostic methodology, section 3 gives an overview of economic development of the Kyrgyz Republic, section 4 is an analytical part which provides analysis of the Kyrgyz Republic?s economy. The final part gives concluding remarks. |
| Keywords: | development economics; economic growth; growth diagnostic |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p1626&r=cwa |
| By: | Poyker, Mikhail (Russian presidental academy of national economy and public administration (RANEPA)); Baeva, Marina Alekseevna (Russian presidental academy of national economy and public administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | This article is devoted to development of possible forms of close collaborative relationship between the economies of neighboring countries of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia (CU) and the common economic space of these countries (CES) without joining of these associations, in relation to Armenia, Moldova, and Tajikistan. On the basis of the analysis of both the common features and areas of possible cooperation and collaboration tools, as well as the specifics of each country, taking into account the world experience major economic cooperation alliances with other countries authors provide the analysis of the economic effects of the certain forms of collaboration between the countries. |
| Keywords: | Customs Union, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, CES, Armenia, Moldova,Tajikistan |
| Date: | 2014–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:om21&r=cwa |
| By: | Ulyukaev, Sergey (Russian presidental academy of national economy and public administration (RANEPA)); Sheryay, K. I. (Russian presidental academy of national economy and public administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | Under the current Russian Foreign Policy Concept «the task of forming a Eurasian Economic Union, designed to not only maximize the use of mutually beneficial economic relations within the CIS, but also to become a defining model for the future of the Commonwealth states» is a priority for Russia. The reflections of the stated role of the regional economic integration are observed in recent years in the form ofRussia’snumerous attempts to strengthen cooperation between the CIS countries and, above all, with the countries most open to those attempts, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan. The result of those actions is the creation of the Customs Union and Common Economic Space (CES) of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Russia is actively trying to engage Ukraine in these processes and there are objective economic grounds for that (for example, Ukraine is a major recipient of Russian direct investment in CIS). Long-term effects (up to 2030) of the «quartet»’s (consisting of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan andUkraine) integration are expressed as annual average GDP growth rates’ addition from 2% for Russia up to 14% for Belarus. Moreover a qualitative leap into the change of the GDP’s structure could also be achieved as a result of the integration. For the «quartet» in general the share of mining sector in the GDP is expected to decline and the share of value added by processingis expected to increase. The growth of competitiveness through the implementation of the accumulated integration potential and interstate technological cooperation is possible first of all in the following sectors: energy engineering, production of conventional weapons, rocket-space industry, aircraft and helicopter engineering, metallurgy, energy, nuclear industry, transport infrastructure and telecom. The future economic development of Russia and other CES countries and Ukraine is impossible without modernization of existing and launching new high-tech industries. In this regard, technological cooperation on the basis of Soviet relationship, but with application of the new market principles is coming to the forefront. Unified banking system and a unified Eurasian currency is planned to be developed on the base of the Eurasian Economic Union in which CES is going to be transformed. While the transition to a unified regional currency is a matter of the distant future, which requires considerable study, an important task of today is the «quartet»’s financial integration, i.e. through the creation of large regional financial institutions, banks, currency and stock exchanges. Unified monetary and fiscal policy is also an important component of financial integration. The Agreement on coordinated macroeconomic policy provides the CES member countries with quantitative macroeconomic parameters, including the limit of the annual budget deficit no higher than 3 % of GDP and public debt not exceeding 50 % of GDP and the inflation rate no more than 5% above the inflation of a CES state with the smallest prices increase. One of the most important preconditions for the «quartet»’s financial integrationis the increase of ruble’s role as a settlement currency in the region. In 2012 payments in Russianrubles prevailed in the EurAsEC region both in number and in volume: 79.0 and 55.4%, respectively. It is noteworthy that ruble is used as the settlement currency between the countries of the region besides the Russian Federation. The use of ruble as a regional currency is of great importance for the creation of regional and further international financial center in Russia. If CES countries and Ukraine don’t form a regional financial center in the near future, the countries of the region will remain the global financial peripherals, dependent on foreign capital, subject to undue influence of global economic processes, will continue to be weak, have illiquid currency and on the whole the problems of economic integration and a successful transition to investment-based growth model will not be executed. |
| Keywords: | Russian Foreign Policy, Eurasian Economic Union, integration, CIS, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine |
| Date: | 2014–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:om20&r=cwa |
| By: | Mehmet Kucukmehmetoglu; Abdurrahman Geymen |
| Abstract: | The Dough Rule, in Turkish Land Law terminology, is a technical approach to readjust land resources in urban and agricultural areas. The Regulation on the 18th Article of the Land and Building Development Law defines the procedures of land readjustment. The procedure is as follows: First obtain cadastral land resources and ownership records and then overlay graphic information on top of zoning plans, later allocate the land resources to the relevant owners after proportional deduction for public uses, such as schools, roads, and parks. In many cases, in the allocation process, relevant parties compete for higher-value urban lots, and the resulting allocation scheme is taken to court. In this study, the primary goal is to develop techniques to handle the difficulties in land readjustment and reallocation practices in Turkey. The developed techniques contain three authentic features: The first feature is the original mathematical models based on operation research techniques. In this feature, there are two Linear Programing (LP) and one Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) models reallocating cadastral parcel areas into standard high quality urban subdivision lot(s) after proportional deduction of public land uses from all landowners under the frame of the Regulation on the 18th Article. The second feature is the evaluation criteria which are developed to present superiority of the optimization models over the existing expert based subjective practices in land reallocation. Those criteria are defined in the form of equations utilizing the allocation results (objective and subjective). The third feature is the graphical presentation of allocation results in a system of rays from cadastral parcel centroids to urban subdivision lot centroids. This provides a succinct way of visual comparison among alternative allocation results. Over a case study area, first, the optimization techniques are applied, then, the obtained results are evaluated via the evaluation criteria, and later visually presented by the ray based allocation/transfer diagrams. Finally superiority of the developed techniques are discussed for further sophistications. |
| Keywords: | Q15 Land Ownership and Tenure ? Land Reform ? Land Use ? Irrigation ? Agricultur |
| JEL: | R52 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p911&r=cwa |
| By: | Perihan Hazel Kaya (selcuk University); Mustafa Göktu kAYA (Ministry of Finance of Turkey,Turkish Tax Inspection Board) |
| Abstract: | Turkey has been a busy destination for immigration and it will always beas it is the geographical and cultural exit door of the East and the entrance door of the West. Among these immigrations, we can see the victims of human trafficking, human smuggling, refugees and those who came here to work and live. Human smuggling, which is one of the movements of illegal immigration, is the specific subject of this work.The fact that our country lies on the transportation destinations between the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, the crime of human smuggling is highly committed in our country. The aim of the victims of human smuggling is to go to a more developed country to have higher standards of living, to get a better job and to escape from the economic and social instability of their countries. The human smuggling, which has gathered pace due to the improvements in communication and transportation, is not a regional issue and has become one of the most important problems for almost all countries.Accordingly, the reasons, methods and extent of human smuggling will be dealt firstly. Later, it will be studied why Turkey is preffered in human smuggling. Finally, statistical data will be given to show how much human smuggling has gone far in Turkey and the study will be finished with that what is being done and what can be done to prevent it. |
| Keywords: | Human Smuggling, Immigration, Immigrator, Human Trafficking, Turkey |
| JEL: | A19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3104915&r=cwa |
| By: | Semiha Turgut; Aliye Ahu Akgun |
| Abstract: | The effect of entrepreneurship on regional economic growth has been a research agenda for the last two decades. Entrepreneurship, by creating employment, fostering competitiveness or affecting employment, somehow contributes to economic development. While entrepreneurship is mostly defined or measured as numbers of self-employed, firm formation, business formation, new firm start-ups, firm births or net entry rates in the empirical studies, regional economic development is defined or measured as, the growth of gross domestic product (GDP), gross value added (GVA) and the change of employment/unemployment rate or productivity. The effect of entrepreneurship on economic growth is mainly seen in two time periods: long term and short term. In the literature, there is evidence on the effect of employment growth in short term and on the effects like crowd-out, displacement, the employment decreases because of the firm closures or employment and productivity growth caused by the new firm formations in long term. The purpose of this article is to find the causality between entrepreneurship and regional economic development in Turkey at the NUTS1 level. In order to reach this aim, entrepreneurship is measured as firm formation and net entry, while regional economic development is measured by GVA, GDP and employment. One of the well-known techniques to identify the causal relations among the variables, correlation is used to measure the length, direction and the weight of the causal affects/relations between regional economic development and entrepreneurship. First, the aim, objectives and detailed framework of this article are given. Then, in the following section, the conceptual and theoretical framework of entrepreneurship and regional economic development is discussed. The case study is given in the third section, with the explanation of data and methodology, a short brief of firm and entrepreneurship policies in Turkey and the effect of entrepreneurship on regional economic development in Turkey at two distinctive periods as 1987-2001 and 2004-2011 separately. This study is the first attempt to show such a relation between entrepreneurship and regional economic growth on the basis of the firm formation. The findings show that the causality between (or effect of) entrepreneurship and regional economic growth changes among regions, which clarifies regional similarities of diversities. Therefore, although the trends of entrepreneurship to affect regional growth in Turkey seem corresponding the findings of the current literature, eastern regions acts differently. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; firm formation; regional economic growth |
| JEL: | L26 O47 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p1093&r=cwa |
| By: | Metin Aksoy (Selcuk Üniversity) |
| Abstract: | Turkey is the only pluralist secular democracy in the Moslem world and has always attached great importance to developing its relations with other European countries. Historically, Turkish culture has had a profound impact over much of Eastern and Southern Europe. Turkey began "westernising" its economic, political and social structures in the 19th century. Following the First World War and the proclamation of the Republic in 1923, it chose Western Europe as the model for its new secular structure. Turkey has ever since closely aligned itself with the West and has become a founding member of the United Nations, a member of NATO, the Council of Europe, the OECD and an associate member of the Western European Union. During the Cold War Turkey was part of the Western alliance, defending freedom, democracy and human rights. In this respect, Turkey has played and continues to play a vital role in the defence of the European continent and the principal elements of its foreign policy have converged with those of its European partners. Having thus entered into very close cooperation with Western Europe in the political field, it was therefore only natural for Turkey to complete this in the economic area. Thus, Turkey chose to begin close cooperation with the fledgling EEC in 1959. |
| Keywords: | History of Relations urkey and the European Union |
| JEL: | F22 N90 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3105351&r=cwa |
| By: | Gürkaynak, Refet S.; Kantur, Zeynep; Tas, M. Anil; Yildirim, Secil |
| Abstract: | We present an accessible narrative of the Turkish economy since its great 2001 crisis. We broadly survey economic developments and pay particular attention to monetary policy. The data suggests that the Central Bank of Turkey was a strong inflation targeter early in this period but began to pay less attention to inflation after 2009. Loss of the strong nominal anchor is visible in the break we estimate in Taylor-type rules as well as in asset prices. We also argue that recent discrete jumps in Turkish asset prices, especially the exchange value of the lira, are due more to domestic factors. In the post-2009 period the Central Bank was able to stabilize expectations and asset prices when it chose to do so, but this was the exception rather than the rule. |
| Keywords: | Turkey,CBRT,monetary policy,fiscal policy |
| JEL: | E52 E62 E31 E32 E02 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfswop:520&r=cwa |
| By: | Mehmet Emin Demir (SELCUK UNIVERSITY); Mehmet Akif Çini (SELCUK UNIVERSITY) |
| Abstract: | The importance of entrepreneurship has been increasing in our country and in the world day by day. Because entepreneurs take risks when bringing production factors together, turn a work idea into a purchasable product, and have a critical significance in the establishment of SMEs as locomotives of economy which involve 99% of enterprises operating in our country. So entrepreneurs and their SMEs in our country and in the world are of great importance to have economical development and social welfare. Therefore, it is necessary that entrepreneurs and SMEs be supported by the state. Many various institutions give support to entrepreneurs and SMEs in our country. One of the important institutions supporting is KOSGEB (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization). KOSGEB has "Entrepreneurship Support Program" aimed at entrepreneurs. In this study, the activities by KOSGEB in the framework of Entrepreneurship Support Program in Konya province will be analyzed via data from the institution; the main objective of the study will show the importance of state support in entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, SMEs, KOSGEB Entrepreneurship Support Program |
| JEL: | L26 M13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3105199&r=cwa |
| By: | Cenk Hamamcioglu; Senay Oguztimur |
| Abstract: | In general manner; Turkey and Germany are quite unlike countries in terms of transportation infrastructure and logitics facilities. Many reasons, most of them ground historical reasons, could be regarded such as; geographical location, industrial history, economic. For whatever reason might be; in today?s context the world witness the highest logistics performans index score in Germany and an aggressively developing country in Turkey. As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation, Germany leads in developing logistics strategies and services as a key member of the continent's economic and political structure. On the other hand, Turkey has got a real strategic location between the continents but traditionally has problems with transportation mode distribution and interconnectivity of systems that prevent Turkey to undertake the 'hub' role for its region and achieve economic benefit. The efficient mobility of people and freight is a prerequisite for modern economic success. Due to increasing globalization, transportation of freight and logistics play an ever important role in a country's ability to compete in the global market. Global supply chains require a large number of high-performing physical interfaces, such as container terminals, seaports and/or freight villages, to establish a perfect material flow along the entire world. From this point of view; Germany is chosen as the best perfomed country all over the world. Likewise, Turkey needs a kind of a 'benchmarking' in order to overcome transportation and logistics infrastructural and strategic problems. The aim of this paper is to focus on the successful strategic location desicion of freight villages and transportation mode distribution of Germany. In accordance with this purpose, first section of this paper is substantially based on secondary data gathered from a wide variety of sources including Turkish/German Statistical Institutes, Ministries of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication and NGO's of the sector besides European Commision Statistical Office (eurostat) and academic studies. Data gathered is used to point the current transport indicators of Turkey with respect to Germany. Afterwards analyzing the primary transportation and logistics index, the mind behind transportation organisation is presented. Finally; the lessons to be taken for Turkey is presented and future policy in transportation and logistics are guided. The results regarding with the transportation modes indicate that, the finest detail is hidden behind the railway investments and its connections within other transportation modes for Turkey. In a similar manner, Germany's logistics workforce and infrastructure is geographically concentrated along the Rhineland, through the industrial heartland of the Ruhr. But in Turkey, unbalanced regional development force country to polarised development around Marmara Region. |
| Keywords: | transportation; freight village; Germany; Turkey |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p498&r=cwa |
| By: | Bilgehan Gültekin (Ege University); Tuba Gültekin (Dokuz Eylül University) |
| Abstract: | Peace Communication is a means of public diplomacy for creating peace climate in international relations. Especially to solve international conflicts and to mediate them by using peace efforts, diplomatic communication is best perspective for agreement.Peace communication in the perspective of diplomatic communication includes: Intercultural peace campaign strategies , creating public diplomacy models for peace, selecting process of right peace actors, message production process and forming public opinion events based on societies. The study titled “Peace Communication and Mediation Model for Turkey and Spain Relations”aims to create a new peace model to motivate peace initiatives for all over the world. The reason to select Turkey and Spain as a leader of peace model is both country have a great peace potential and moreover both Turkey and Spain are representing successful mediation in conflict negotiations. In this study, after evaluation of peace diplomacy strategies and efforts of Turkey and Spain, a new peace model will be developed for leading mediation process. One of the important aims of the study is to point out the importance of mediation process in negotiations . To form an ideal peace mediation for conflict situations by using creative communication techniques and practices is most critical part of the study. |
| Keywords: | Mediation , Diplomatic Public Relations, Peace Diplomacy |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3104242&r=cwa |
| By: | Arzu Taylan; Elif Gunduz; Mehmet Akif Sag; Kubra Karkin |
| Abstract: | This paper will evaluate the outcomes of the economic and sectoral development policies of Turkey in terms of investigating the socio-economic and spatial resilience of Kayseri city-region. In Turkey, economic development was mainly based on the manufacturing sector with a significant rise during the period of 1980-1990s. In recent decade, however, the main economic activity has shifted toward the construction sector. Depending on the limitations of the construction industry in the near future, however, the cities need to develop ?resilience plans?, which consider the sectoral potentials and challenges as well as their influences on physical development and/or settlement patterns by comprising both the urban and rural areas of their regions. In this context, this paper focused on the Kayseri city-region. Indeed, Kayseri, which is known with its innovative entrepreneurship in business, has witnessed certain developments in the manufacture industry, i.e. automotive and furniture sectors during 1980-1990s. Although this change addressed a significant shift toward the new regional policies that can lead success in the competitiveness and global integration, there is seen a sectoral decline in the automotive industry since 2000s. Simultaneously, the construction and service sectors increased, when Kayseri has experienced a significant rural-to-urban migration. That is, the influence of the rise in the construction sector does not only lead a decline in the urban manufacturing sectors, but also a decrease in the rural sectors that accompany to the migration. Moreover, the peripheries of Kayseri metropolitan area that had agricultural character with a contribution into the industry have also been threatened with the speculative activities of the construction industry. Regarding the limitations of the construction industry in the next years, Kayseri needs to define the way of resilient development by means of economic sectors. Thus, the paper will evaluate the resilience of Kayseri city-region in terms of Multi-Criteria Analysis Approach, which provides using several criteria, i.e. limits and potentials in the economic sectors as well as in the social and physical development, and different scales, i.e. regional and metropolitan levels. The data on the economic sectors and spatial development of Kayseri are obtained from local authorities such as regional development agency and metropolitan and district municipalities. Regarding both the characteristics of urban and rural areas, the paper will present firstly a sub-regional zoning, which is based on the existing and potential economic activities with the reasons of migration, proposals for rural development and integration of rural sectors into metropolitan sectors. Then, the paper will focus on the metropolitan area by investigating the potentials of urban economic sectors in association with rural sectors? integration, urban growth patterns and main macro-form decisions. |
| Keywords: | sectoral changes; socio-spatial resilience; urban growth; regional development |
| JEL: | R1 R11 R12 R14 R58 N5 N6 N9 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p1007&r=cwa |
| By: | Burak Sunay; Ferhan Gezici Korten |
| Abstract: | Since the globalization and global production chains have dominated the world, crisis have bigger effects on economies. In 70?s, 80?s, 90?s and now in 2000?s global financial crisis affect not only countries economies but also global economy. It has become a must for countries and economies to take precautions to stop system failure or to take less damage from big scale impact crisis. In order to lower the possibility of systems malfunctions in economies in case of crisis, countries or regions have to prepare themselves to reduce their vulnerability to external disturbances. Regional resilience, as the term of resilience generated in biology, describes the phenomenon of adapting capacity of a habitat against external effects. In common use it is the ability of a system to leap back or to rebound or to recover after any kind of external and internal disturb shocks and effects. Concerning the regional resilience, a diverse business structure, economy?s innovation capacity and generated added value are beneficial. In this article, the response of the specialized regions in automotive manufacturing has been analyzed in terms of regional resilience. Not only by having specialized production process, innovative designs, technology and a diversified economy within the region, but also being one of the most important economic sectors by revenue, the automotive manufactory has been a key sector for measuring regional resilience. In addition to measure the effect of automotive industry on regional resilience, the automotive manufacturing specialized regions in European Union and Turkey have been defined with location quotient technique by the employment numbers of automotive manufacturing (C29, manufacturing of motor vehicles as defined in NACE Rev.2 by Eurostat) in year 2010. Secondly, the economic performance of 20 top automotive manufacturing specialized regions across the global financial crisis in 2008 have been analyzed in years between 2006 and 2010 with shift-share analysis by employment numbers in automotive manufacturing. Therefore, the pre-shock and post-shock positions of the regions are defined. Finally, an evaluation of the economic resilience performance of the automotive specialized regions has been applied to clarify the reasons of the performances of the automotive manufacturing specialized regions, which have the different characteristic although they have same sectorial specialization, that shift-share analysis could not explain. Eventually, this article clarifies the good and the bad performance of the automotive industry specialized regions; and factors behind their performance, which build their regional economic resilience strong or weak against 2008 global financial crisis. |
| Keywords: | Automotive industry; regional resilience; performance measurement; shift-share |
| JEL: | L62 O14 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p1061&r=cwa |
| By: | Shida, Yoshisada |
| Abstract: | The current paper empirically examines the determinants of household savings rates in the Soviet republics, by utilizing the panel data of an aggregated household budget survey in the period from 1965 to 1989. Earlier studies claimed that increases in household savings starting from the late 1950s were the direct result of worsening shortages of consumer goods; therefore, they considered Soviet households' savings to be involuntary ones and that households were "forced" to save under severe shortage conditions in the official consumer market. But they failed to fully investigate this problem mainly because of unavailability of data on household incomes and expenditures and of ignorance of a widespread informal economy ("second economy"). When the informal economy could at least partly provide households with opportunities to spend their money on lacking goods, households would be able to choose whether to save money and stand in line for scarce goods at the official retail shops, or move to the informal market. This understanding leads to the implication that there existed neither involuntary nor forced savings. In order to tackle this unsolved research problem, the Soviet households' savings rate function is estimated by taking into account shortages, the informal economy, and other factors, among them life-cycle factors, and then the "forced savings rate" is calculated. The main findings of this study are as follows: Firstly, even taking into account these factors, there existed Soviet-unique factors, namely the shortage factor, informal factor, and demand-spillover effect. Secondly, the magnitudes of these three factors varied among regions, so forced savings rates also varied. According to our estimation results, forced savings in the Slavic and Baltic regions accounted for more than 40% of the total savings just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, while those in the Caucasian and Central Asian regions accounted for less than 10%. |
| Keywords: | forced savings, shortages, informal economy, centrally planned economies, Soviet Union |
| JEL: | N34 P24 P32 P36 P51 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:rrcwps:54&r=cwa |
| By: | Ça Benhür (Selçuk University) |
| Abstract: | During the Second World War, Turkey had tried to remain neutral and stay away from the conflict reached its borders with its balance policy. Turkey has succeeded in this policy but officially joined the war alongside the Allies in the last months of the war and took its place in the new emerging world order. In years when the hot conflict reached its borders, although Turkey purposed the policy of outages war, Turkey had tried to prepare itself economically and in military way as it was going to go to war at any moment. The mentioned precautions became quite harsh for Turkey whilst it could not completely unseat the load of the First World War and the struggle after war. One of the above-mentioned efforts for Turkey was to pass the war economy. The principle of sustainability & development of the war economy, ensuring the maximum benefit from the territory source adopted and the decision was taken as the results to be obtained would be evaluated for the possible war. A development which can be considered as the reflection of the decisions taken; A delegation consisted of the period Ministries of Parliament, has prepared a comprehensive economic measures and practices report. In this study, it will attempt to perform a detailed review and assessment of the mentioned report which is now in the Prime Ministry Republican Archives in Ankara. |
| Keywords: | Turkey, Economy, Second World War, Archive |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3105386&r=cwa |
| By: | Ervin Sezgin; Gülden Erkut |
| Abstract: | Institutions take essential roles in the organization of social life. Ranging from institutionalized informal practices to strict laws and regulations and various public and private organizations, institutions have diffused to day- to- day activities. In this way they do not only regulate social interactions and reduce the transaction costs in the society but also transpose the given social/ political dynamics across different political/ administrative scales. From the supra national scale to the nation- state and to the regional levels this transposition ensures the reproduction of the social structure at these political/ administrative scales. However, institutions also provide a ground for intervention and change, through which the agency of individual and institutional actors intervenes and modifies the wider institutional structure. Therefore the analysis of institutions in any given social setting, enables the researcher i) to map the dynamics of interaction among actors; ii) to understand the wider social/ political and economic factors that affect this setting; and iii) to locate the points of intervention, which through interpretation and invention of methods of resistance allows institutional actors to transcend the structural constrains and to create a unique institutional mechanism. The new institutional theory and especially its three main strands (rational choice, sociological and historical institutionalism) provide a wide array of perspectives for analysing and understanding above-mentioned institutional dynamics. Although these three strands rely on theoretical backgrounds that often contradict with each other; their combined use grasps the diversity and complexity of institutional structures more accurately than using a single approach and excluding the remaining perspectives. Based on a field research conducted in the summer of 2013 at the north-western border region (Edirne- Kırklareli provinces) of Turkey, this study performs a new institutional analysis for evaluating the major institutional dynamics of cross- border cooperation in the region. For this purpose, various components of the institutional structure of cross- border cooperation are analysed with respect to the three major strands of new institutional theory. The analysis uses the differing theoretical backgrounds of the three strands of new institutionalism to develop a comprehensive understanding of the institutional structure of cross- border cooperation in the region and place it within the wider social/ political structure as well as within the local context. For this purpose the results of the analyses are brought together and discussed in relation to the structure and agency dichotomy. This theoretical conceptualization allows the researcher to find a common ground among the three new institutionalist strands and to use the analysis for establishing a coherent picture of the institutional structure of cross- border cooperation in Edirne- Kırklareli border region. |
| Keywords: | cross border cooperation; new institutionalism; Edirne- Kırklareli Border Region |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p348&r=cwa |
| By: | Ipek Ilkkaracan; Kijong Kim; Tolga Kaya |
| Abstract: | This one-pager presents the key findings and policy recommendations of the research project report The Impact of Public Investment in Social Care Services on Employment, Gender Equality, and Poverty: The Turkish Case, which examines the demand-side rationale for a public investment in the social care sector in Turkey--specifically, early childhood care and preschool education (ECCPE)--by comparing its potential for job creation, pro-women allocation of jobs, and poverty reduction with an equivalent investment in the construction sector. |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levyop:op_50&r=cwa |