nep-cwa New Economics Papers
on Central and Western Asia
Issue of 2017‒01‒29
four papers chosen by
Sultan Orazbayev
UCL

  1. The Potential Benefits of Transboundary Co-operation in Georgia and Azerbaijan: Kura River Basin By Pierre Strosser; Gloria De Paoli; Tatiana Efimova
  2. A small scale forecasting and simulation model for Azerbaijan (FORSAZ) By Huseynov, Salman; Mammadov, Fuad
  3. Research and Teaching Efficiencies of Turkish Universities with Heterogeneity Considerations: Application of Multi-Activity DEA and DEA by Sequential Exclusion of Alternatives Methods By Y. \c{C}inar
  4. DETERMINANTS OF OBESITY IN TURKEY: A QUANTILE REGRESSION ANALYSIS FROM A DEVELOPING COUNTRY By Deniz Karaoğlan; Aysit Tansel

  1. By: Pierre Strosser (ACTeon); Gloria De Paoli (ACTeon); Tatiana Efimova (OECD)
    Abstract: This study was one of the first attempts to evaluate and quantify the benefits of transboundary co-operation between Georgia and Azerbaijan. A specific framework for inventorying these benefits, taking into account all the different dimensions of transboundary water management, was built and applied to the major transboundary water bodies. Though a thorough assessment of the costs and benefits of transboundary co-operation in the two selected cases was not possible due to the lack of some quantitative and economic data, the assessment results highlighted the importance of promoting the integration of economic thinking in transboundary water management. The present and future prospects for transboundary co-operation on water management are still very positive: the two countries are working on a Transboundary Agreement, which will provide the necessary regulatory framework for co-operation and, most importantly, will set up a Joint Commission on Sustainable Use and Protection of the Kura River Basin. The outcomes of this study allowed for the identification of priorities for future work on transboundary co-operation between Georgia and Azerbaijan, and namely, support to developing guidelines on mechanisms to update databases, but also on new tools and systems.
    Keywords: benefits of water cooperation, economic instruments, river basin, trans-boundary water management, water policy
    JEL: D78 Q15 Q25 Q28
    Date: 2017–01–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:114-en&r=cwa
  2. By: Huseynov, Salman; Mammadov, Fuad
    Abstract: In our study, we model both steady state and short-run dynamics of the important aspects of the national economy using quarterly data for the period 1999Q1-2016Q2. We explicitly model government, money market and external sector, but omit household sector, labor market, wage dynamics and volume of the physical capital specifications due to serious data quality issues. Using Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) co-integration methodology we explore co-integration relations among the variables. Coefficient estimates of short-run dynamics are in compliance with our ex-ante expectations. Stability tests indicate that the system seems to exhibit stability around its steady state values and model variables converges to their steady state values approximately within 140 periods (2016Q3-2050Q4). Impulse-response analysis also show stable convergence of the model and predict economically consistent results. The results of in-sample and out-of-sample simulation exercises for the inflation, the government consumption and the imports are satisfactory. However, it seems that the model cannot adequately capture ex-post dynamics of NFA and reserve money. In general the results indicate that model can be used for the specific policy analysis and forecasting of main macroeconomic variables of Azerbaijan.
    Keywords: general equilibrium; co-integration analysis; forecast evaluation
    JEL: C32 C51 C52 E17
    Date: 2016–11–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76348&r=cwa
  3. By: Y. \c{C}inar
    Abstract: The research and teaching efficiencies of 45 Turkish state universities are evaluated by using Multi-Activity Data Envelopment Analysis (MA-DEA) model developed by Beasley (1995). Universities are multi-purpose institutions, therefore they face multiple production functions simultaneously associated with research and teaching activities. MA-DEA allows assigning priorities and allocating shared resources to these activities.
    Date: 2016–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1701.07318&r=cwa
  4. By: Deniz Karaoğlan (Bahcesehir University, Department of Economics.); Aysit Tansel (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey, Institute for Study of Labor (IZA), P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany, and Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo,)
    Abstract: This study investigates the factors that may influence the obesity in Turkey which is a developing country by implementing Quantile Regression (QR) methodology. The control factors that we consider are education, labor market outcomes, household income, age, gender, region and marital status. The analysis is conducted by using the 2008, 2010 and 2012 waves of the Turkish Health Survey (THS) prepared by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT). The obesity indicator in our study is the individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI). QR regression results provide robust evidence that additional years of schooling has negative effect on individual’s BMI and this effect significantly raises across different quantiles of BMI. QR results also indicate that males tend to have higher BMI at lower quantiles of BMI, whereas females have higher BMI at the top quantiles. This implies that females have higher tendency to be obese in Turkey. Our findings also imply that the positive effect of age on individual’s BMI levels raises across the quantiles at a decreasing rate. In addition, the effect of living in urban or rural areas do not significantly differ at the highest quantile distributions of BMI. Our results also reveal that the negative effect of being single on BMI increases gradually in absolute value across the quantiles of BMI implying that single individuals have less tendency to be obese or overweight compared to the married or widowed/divorced individuals. Moreover, the negative effect of being in labor force on individual’s BMI increases across the quantiles of BMI implying that an individual is more likely to be obese if he/she is out of labor force. Finally, the impact of household income on BMI is positive and significant at all quantiles.
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2017/1&r=cwa

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