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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Uuriintuya Batsaikhan; Marek Dabrowski |
| Abstract: | Central Asia, though referred to as a single region, consists of five culturally and ethnically diverse countries that have followed different political and economic transformation paths in the last 25 years since independence from the Soviet Union. After experiencing more than a decade of growth based on hydrocarbon booms, these countries are faced with increasing challenges resulting from falling commodity prices, declining trade and lower migrant remittances. The main policy challenge is to move away from commodity-based growth strategies to macro-oriented diversification and adoption of a broad spectrum of economic, institutional and political reforms. However, structural diversification is easier said than done. Our analysis suggests five key policy lessons that could serve as points of departure as these countries move ahead. |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:polcon:20390&r=cwa |
| By: | Khusainov, Bulat; Kireyeva, Anel; Sultanov, Ruslan |
| Abstract: | The aim of the study is to assess the asymmetry of influence of factors of economic growth of national economies, which are included in the integration. Unlike previous research, the scientific significance of the obtained results consists in the use of a new method of study – external demand as a factor of economic growth, disaggregated into two components. The first is net exports mutual trade in goods within integration associations. The second is net exports of foreign trade in goods outside the integration. By use of these methods we have evaluated the contribution of these factors on economic growth of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space (CU/CES), as well as Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. In the conducted analysis of scientific research was based on the fact that the economies of the member (CU/CES) are very different in scale, economic potential and volume of foreign trade. Based on this research we conclude: integration is developing successfully and efficiently only with the rise of the national economies of the member countries; to enhance economic growth and competitiveness of the countries of the Eurasian integration it is necessary to increase the volume of mutual trade of member countries of this integration. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; Integration; Economic Growth; External Demand; Domestic Demand; Net Exports Trade |
| JEL: | F1 F10 F13 F15 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:78841&r=cwa |
| By: | Kseniia Gatskova; Artjoms Ivlevs; Barbara Dietz |
| Abstract: | We study how migration affects education of girls in Tajikistan—the poorest post-Soviet state and one of the most remittance-dependent economies in the world. Using data from a threewave household panel survey conducted in 2007, 2009, and 2011, we find that the effect of migration on girls’ school attendance differs markedly by age. School attendance of young girls (ages 7–11) improves when either parents or sibling migrate, as well as when the household starts receiving remittances. In contrast, school attendance of teenage girls (ages 12–17) falls when siblings migrate, while parental migration and remittances have no effect. Having a grandmother as the head of household after parents (typically fathers) migrate improves school attendance of young and teenage girls, but reduces school attendance of young women (ages 18–22). We also find that in localities where the share of migrants is already high, an increase in the share of migrant households is associated with an increase in the marriage rate. Our results support various channels through which emigration of household members may affect girls’ and young women’s education: relaxation of budget constraints, increase in household work, change in the head of household, and pressure to marry early. Overall, our study suggests that the net effect of migration on girls’ schooling turns from positive to negative with girls’ age; this implies that migration may be detrimental to women’s empowerment in Tajikistan and casts doubts on whether migration is an appropriate long-term development strategy for this country. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-104&r=cwa |
| By: | Sarwari, Abdul Nafi; Jinnai, Yusuke |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the impacts of a community-based development program on the economic welfare of rural households in Afghanistan. Using a randomized experiment data collected by National Solidarity Program (NSP), this paper uses Ordinary Least Square Method (OLS) to eliminate the selection bias. The results show that the program decreased the economic welfare of rural households in the short-term due to the small amount of cash inflow and high expectations of the rural households. However, the program increased the economic welfare of rural households in the medium-term through the completion of infrastructure and irrigation projects. In particular, the program has increased household income, consumption, and agriculture productivity of the treatment group on average by 20, 11, and 19 percent respectively. Moreover, the study concluded that channeling resources under the community-based development program approach was an effective way to target the rural households in medium-term. Future research is required to capture the political, institutional, and project management problems that could influence the impact of the community-based program. |
| Keywords: | Ordinary Least Square Method,Community-Based Development,Selection Bias,Economic Welfare |
| JEL: | D1 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201718&r=cwa |
| By: | Selim Gulesci |
| Abstract: | I explore the long-term effects of internal displacement caused by the Kurdish-Turkish conflict on women’s attitudes towards domestic violence. Using the Turkish Demographic and Health Survey, I show that forced migrants are more likely to view domestic violence as acceptable. As suggestive evidence, I use data from applicants to a women’s shelter and show that forced migrant women endure violence for longer and of greater intensity before deciding to seek assistance. I discuss possible mechanisms through which forced migration may affect migrants’ attitudes towards domestic violence. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-110&r=cwa |
| By: | Şen, Hüseyin; Bulut-Çevik, Zeynep Burcu; Kaya, Ayşe |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to revisit as well as empirically examine an old but still discussed postulate, the Khaldun-Laffer curve, on the basis of personal income tax by making use annual time-series data for Turkey for the period 1970-2015. The findings of the paper confirm the validity of the Khaldun-Laffer curve hypothesis. In addition, we infer that the optimal tax rate that maximizes the tax revenue generated from personal income taxation in Turkey is 15.03 percent. This rate is well-below than the current rate which we estimate as 15.37 percent, implying that Turkey’s current tax rate for personal income tax takes place in the prohibitive range of the Khaldun-Laffer curve. These findings suggest that the current tax rate should be lowered and to its optimal level to collect more tax revenue. Getting down the current rate to its revenue-maximizing rate not only would it enable the Turkish authorities to collect more revenues with a relatively lower rate, but also would allow them to minimize the substitution effects of personal income tax while maximizing the income revenues from it. |
| Keywords: | Tax Policy, Khaldun-Laffer Curve, Laffer Curve, Optimal Tax Rate, Personal Income Tax, Turkey |
| JEL: | E62 H2 H20 |
| Date: | 2017–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:78850&r=cwa |
| By: | Ahmet F. Aysan; Mustafa Disli; Meryem Duygun; Huseyin Ozturk (-) |
| Abstract: | Although it has been intensively claimed that Islam ic banks are more subject to market discipline, the empirical literature is surprisingly mute on th is topic. To fill this gap and to verify the conjec ture that Islamic bank depositors are indeed able to mon itor and discipline their banks, we use Turkey as a test setting. The theory of market discipline predicts that when excessive risk taking occurs, depositors will ask higher returns on their deposit s or withdraw their funds. We look at the effect of the deposit insurance reform in which the dual d eposit insurance was revised and all banks were put under the same deposit insurance company in Dec ember 2005. This gives us a natural experiment in which the effect of the reform can be compared for the treatment group (i.e., Islamic banks) and control group (i.e., conventional banks) . We find that the deposit insurance reform has increased market discipline in the Turkish Islamic banking sector. This reform may have upset the sensitivities of the religiously inspired depositor s, and perhaps more importantly it might have terminated the existing mutual supervision and supp ort among Islamic banks. |
| Keywords: | Depositor discipline, Islamic banks |
| JEL: | G23 G28 O52 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:17/929&r=cwa |