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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Travers Barclay Child (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam & Tinbergen Institute) |
| Abstract: | Field interviews conducted by the author in Afghanistan suggest current theories linking conflict to development do not adequately account for ideological drivers of resistance. We present a model demonstrating how reconstruction/development led by a foreign occupier can exacerbate violence through popular discontent, if projects are ideologically controversial. We test the model using detailed data on military-led reconstruction and public opinion from NATO, and a US-Government violence log covering Afghanistan from 2005 until 2009. We find projects in the health sector successfully alleviate violence, whereas those in the education sector actually provoke conflict. The destabilizing effects of education projects are strongest in conservative areas, where public opinion polls suggest education projects breed antipathy towards international forces. Further underscoring the role of local perceptions, project-driven violence appears to be homegrown, rather than sourced externally. Our findings do not support competing theories; are not driven by reverse causation; and are robust when considering many sources of endogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Reconstruction, Development, Insurgency, Conflict JEL Classification: O21, H56, N4 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:244&r=cwa |
| By: | Astghik Mavisakalyan (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University) |
| Abstract: | The rigid soviet policy of full employment ensured employment for all able-bodied population. By removing this policy, the collapse of the system has made discrimination less costly. Has it also become prevalent? This paper studies the labour market discrimination on the basis of looks using data from three post-soviet countries of the caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. I estimate a large positive effect of attractive looks on males' probability of employment. Using partial identification approach, I show that this relationship is likely to be causal. The results are potentially consistent with taste-based discrimination in favour of attractive males. |
| Keywords: | Attractiveness, Employment, Former Soviet Union |
| JEL: | J21 J70 P23 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ozl:bcecwp:wp1604&r=cwa |
| By: | Deniz Karaoğlan (Department of Economics, Bahçeşehir University); Aysıt Tansel (Department of Economics, METU; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn, Germany; Economic Research Forum (ERF) Cairo, Egypt) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | Obesity, adults, BMI, quantile regression, Turkey |
| JEL: | I12 I18 C21 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1701&r=cwa |
| By: | Aykut Mert Yakut (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey); Ebru Voyvoda (Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey) |
| Abstract: | This study focuses on the effects of public policies on the size distribution of income in Turkey. To this end, an intertemporal dynamic equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents in a small open economy framework is constructed. This study serves several extensions to the literature via its algebraic structure and the calibration process in which various micro-level data sets are utilized. The results reveal that, in line with the previous findings of the literature, increasing budget allocations to unilateral social transfer programs has no significant effect on the size distribution of income and has adverse effects on the labor market decisions of relatively poor laborers. On the contrary, subsidizing the cost of labor has positive impacts on labor supplies and the size distribution of income improves in favor of relatively poor households. |
| Keywords: | Income distribution, Redistributive policies, Internal migration, Intertemporal CGE |
| JEL: | D33 D58 D91 D92 H23 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:wpaper:1703&r=cwa |