The Promise of Transferable Fishing Concessions on EU Fisheries

Zafer Kanık and Serkan Küçükşenel

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Two of the primary issues of the next Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform are maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and transferable fishing concessions (TFCs). The European Commission agreed on implementing TFCs under some major principles including reserving a part of total quotas for small-scale fishermen in order to prevent the reduction in the fish catching sector employment. Besides, the European Commission set the goal of achieving MSY for all European fisheries by 2015. The interrelation between these two objectives should be well understood. In this study, the impact of fishing on total biomass is analyzed under an age-structured model, and the potential effects of TFCs on the achievement process of MSY harvesting conditions are explained. It is shown that the implementation of TFCs, under the major principles defined by the European Commission, has an impact on both the total biomass growth and the time path to reach the goal of MSY. The paper concludes that initial allocation of quotas does matter since reserving quotas for small-scale fishermen reduces the time needed to achieve MSY.

Returns to Foreign Language Skills in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey

Aysit Tansel and Antonio Di Paolo

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Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills.

Turkiye’de Ozel Dershaneler: Yeni Gelismeler ve Dershanelerin Gelecegi

Aysit Tansel

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Bu makalenin amaci Turkiye'de Ozel Dershane sisteminde yeni gelismeleri ortaya koymaktir. Bir ust ogrenim duzeyine geciste uygulanan sinavlarin Ozel Dershanelere talebi kamciladigina inanilmaktadir. Bunun otesinde, dagilimda adaleti degerlendirmek uzere Ozel Dershanelerin ve ortaogretim okullarinin Turkiye'de illere gore dagilimina isik tutmayi amacliyoruz. Ozel Dershanelerin ve ortaogretim okullarinin zaman icinde gecirdigi evrim betimlenmekte ve karsilastirilmaktadir. Ozel Dershanelerin, liselerin ve ortaogetim (lise) cagindaki nufusun illere gore dagilimi karsilastirilmaktadir. Bu dagilim ozellikleri, dagilimda adalet konularini aciklamak uzere degerlendirilmektedir. Ortaogretime devam eden lise cagindaki nufusun illere gore dagilimi ile ortaogretim ogrencilerinden Ozel Dershanelere devam edenlerin illere gore dagilimi karsilastirilmistir. Kanitlarin ortaya koyduguna gore, Ozel Dershanelerin ve ortaogretim okullarinin ozellikleri ilden ile onemli degiskenlikler gostermektedir. Ozel Dershanelerin dagilimi, ortaogretim okullarinin dagilimina gore adaletsizdir. Ulkenin daha cok dogu ve guneydogusunda yer alan illerde Ozel Dershaneler ve ortaogretim okullari daha dusuk niteliktedir. Bunun otesinde, ortaogretim cagindakilerden Ozel Dershanelere giden ortaogretim ogrencileriyle orta ogretime devam edenlerin sayisinin, bazi illerde daha dusuk olmasi onemli esitsizliklerin gostergesidir. Ozel Dershaneler konusundaki en son gelismelerin gozden gecirilmesi, Ozel Dershanelerin ve ortaogretim okullarinin illere gore dagiliminin incelenmesi ve karsilastirilmasi bu makalenin icerdigi yeniliklerdir.

Supplementary Education in Turkey: Recent Developments and Future Prospects

Aysit Tansel

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This paper aims to provide the recent developments on the supplementary education system in Turkey. The national examinations for advancing to higher levels of schooling are believed to fuel the demand for Supplementary Education Centers (SEC). Further, we aim to understand the distribution of the SECs and of the secondary schools across the provinces of Turkey in order to evaluate the spacial equity considerations. The evolution of the SECs and of the secondary schools over time are described and compared. The provincial distribution of the SECs, secondary schools and the high school age population are compared. The characteristics of these distributions are evaluated to inform the about spatial equity issues. The distribution of high school age population that attend secondary schools and the distribution of the secondary school students that attend SECs across the provinces are compared. The evidence points out to significant provincial variations in various characteristics of SECs and the secondary schools. The distribution of the SECs is more unequal than that of the secondary schools. The provinces located mostly in the east and south east of the country have lower quality SECs and secondary schools. Further, the SEC participation among the secondary school students and the secondary school participation among the relevant age group are lower in some of the provinces indicating major disadvantages. The review of the most recent developments about the SECs, examination and comparison of provincial distributions of the SECs and of the secondary schools are novelties in this paper.

Gelismekte Olan Ulkelerdeki Kriz Sirasi ve Sonrasindaki Trendleri Aciklamakta "Guvenli Liman Faktoru" ve Finansal Soklarin Boyutunun Onemi: Turkiye Ornegi

Hasan Cömert and Selman Çolak

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2008 krizinde Turkiye gibi bazi gelismekte olan ekonomiler ciddi manada sarsilsalar bile genel itibariyle gelismekte olan ulkeler krizi gelismis ulkelerden daha az zararla atlatmislardir. Gelismekte olan ulkelerin hemen hemen hic birisi finansal bir cokus yasamamistir. Turkiye gibi gelismekte olan ulkelerin ozellikle finansal bir cokus yasamamasinin arkasinda yatan nedenler nelerdir?. Bu makale gelismekte olan ulkelerin dunya krizinden gorece olarak daha az etkilenmis ve finansal bir cokusle karsilasmamis olmalari yasadiklari finansal soklarin onceki donemlerdeki soklara gore daha kucuk olmasindan kaynaklanmaktadir. Bu anlamda bu ulkelerin finansal sistemi kriz sirasinda test edilmis degildir. Gelismekte olan ulkelerin daha dusuk capli bir sok yasamis olmasi gelismis olan ulkelerin kriz sirasinda guvenli liman islevini tam olarak yerine getirememesiyle ilgilidir. Ozellikle merkez ulkelerindeki getiriler artmaya ve merkez ulkeler guvenli liman rolunu yerine getirmeye baslarsa Turkiye ekonomisi ve gelismekte olan ulkeler ic ve dis kaynakli nedenlerle beklentilerdeki ciddi degisimlere bagli olarak daha buyuk soklarla karsilasabilir. Bu da Turkiye gibi gelismekte olan ekonomilerin daha onceki donemlerdekine benzer krizleri yasamasina sebep olabilir

Implicit Asymmetric Exchange Rate Peg under Inflation Targeting Regimes: The Case of Turkey

Ahmet Benlialper and HAsan Cömert

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Especially, after the 2000s, many developing countries let exchange rates float and began implementing inflation targeting regimes based on mainly manipulation of expectations and aggregate demand. However, most developing countries implementing inflation targeting regimes experienced considerable appreciation trends in their currencies. Might have exchange rates been utilized as implicit tools even under inflation targeting regimes in developing countries? To answer this question and investigate the determinants of inflation under an inflation targeting regime, as a case study, this paper analyzes the Turkish experience with the inflation targeting regime between 2002 and 2008. There are two main findings of this paper. First, the evidence from a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model suggests that the main determinants of inflation in Turkey during this period are supply side factors such as international commodity prices and the variation in exchange rate rather than demand side factors. Since the Turkish lira (TL) was considerably over-appreciated during this period, it is apparent that the Turkish Central Bank benefited from the appreciation of the TL in its fight against inflation during this period. Second, our findings suggest that the appreciation of the TL is related to the deliberate asymmetric policy stance of the Bank with respect to the exchange rate. Both the econometric analysis from a VAR model and descriptive statistics indicate that appreciation of the Turkish lira was tolerated during the period under investigation whereas depreciation was responded aggressively by the Bank. We call this policy stance under the inflation targeting regimes as "implicit asymmetric exchange rate peg". The Turkish experience indicates that, as opposed to rhetoric of central banks in developing countries, inflation targeting developing countries may have an asymeyric stance toward exchange rates and favour appreciation of their currencies to hit their inflation targets. In this sense, IT seems to contribute to the ignorance of dangers regarding to over-appreciation of currencies in developing countries.

Military Expenditures and Political Regimes: An Analysis Using Global Data, 1963-2001

Ünal Tongur , Sara Hsu and Adem Yavuz Elveren

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This paper examines the determinants of military expenditures with a special focus on political regimes for more than 130 countries for the period of 1963-2001 by employing a dynamic panel data analysis. The paper aims at contributing to the literature by utilizing a recently constructed political regimes data set and considering income inequality, a key variable that has not received substantial attention in the context of political regimes, growth and military expenditures. Covering a large set of countries and an extended time period, the paper reveals further evidence on the linkage between democracy and military expenditures. Our results yield two crucial facts. First, social democratic political regimes have a tendency to spend less on armaments as a share of the national income; compared to social democracy all other political regimes are likely to have higher military burdens, confirming previous findings of the negative relationship between level of democracy and military burden. Second, the analysis shows that higher income inequality, regardless of the model specification and inequality measure, is associated with lower military burden.

Deunionization and Pay Inequality in OECD Countries: A Panel Granger Causality Approach

Ünal Tongur and Adem Yavuz Elveren

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The impact of unionization on wage inequality has been examined by a vast literature. Focusing mostly on the US and the UK in time series analyses or on OECD countries in panel data analyses, a bulk of these studies have found a negative impact of deunionization (i.e. decline in the union density rate) on distribution of wages. By utilizing two inequality data sets both provided by the University of Texas Inequality Project this paper contributes to the literature, analyzing the causality relationship between deunionization and pay inequality for 24 OECD countries for the 1963-2000 period within a panel Granger structure. Our findings show not only that there is causality from union density to income inequality but also, perhaps more importantly, point out that there is causality running from income inequality to union density for various set of countries and time periods.

Output-Employment Relationship across Sectors:A Long- versus Short-Run Perspective

Afşin Şahin , Aysit Tansel and M. Hakan Berüment

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This paper investigates the nature of the output-employment relationship by using the Turkish quarterly data for the period from 1988 to 2008. Even if we fail to find a long-run relationship between aggregate output and total employment, there are long-run relationships for the aggregate output with non-agricultural employment and sectoral employment levels for seven of nine sectors that we consider. However, a further investigation for the output and employment relationship within a short-run perspective do not reveal statistically significant relationships for either total employment, or non-agriculture employment or the eight out of the nine sectors that we consider. Thus, it seems that sustainable growth is an essential economic agenda for employment generation concerning the sectors and that there is a long-run link but weak short run link with demand.

Private Tutoring and the Question of Equitable Opportunities in Turkey

Aysit Tansel

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This paper focuses on the implications of private tutoring in Turkey for questions of equity regarding the provision of public education, based on an analysis of previously published research. The nature of the private tutoring and its relation to the two national selection examinations in Turkey are also discussed.

Implementation of the Maximum Sustainable Yield under an Age-Structured Model

Zafer Kanık and Serkan Küçükşenel

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One of the main goals stated in the proposals for the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform is achieving maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for all European fisheries by 2015. In this paper, we consider the mechanism design problem for allocation of fishing rights to achieve MSY harvesting conditions. We study an age-structured fish population model and apply this model for a fishing environment including two fishermen having perfect or imperfect fishing selectivity. If we assume that fishermen are non-satiated and they fulfill their remaining quotas through capturing untargeted (less revenue-generating) fish after targeted fish population is fully caught, the fix ratio of the catch of targeted fish to untargeted fish, derived from catchability coefficients, is not valid anymore. As a result, we show that not only the age-structure or fishing technology but also the estimated level of MSY is steering the optimal allocation of quotas. Accordingly, we determine technology-based optimal quota shares for each fisherman at particular MSY levels. We also show that the optimal allocation of fishing quotas does not have a bang-bang nature under imperfect fishing selectivity.

Financial Crises, Financialization of Commodity Markets and Correlation of Agricultural Commodity Index with Precious Metal Index and S&500

M. Fatih Öztek and Nadir Öcal

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This paper tests and models time varying correlations among agricultural commodity, precious metal and S&500 indices to uncover whether rising trend among these markets is a result of financialization of commodity markets and/or financial crisis. We particularly investigate the roles of market news, global and market volatility on the nature and dynamics of the correlation. Empirical results show that high volatility during financial crisis is the main source of high correlation of agricultural commodity index with S&500 and precious metal index, and plays crucial role in correlation between precious metal index and S&500, possibly due to increasing engagement of financial market investors in commodity markets during financial crisis. Hence, heterogeneous structure of commodity markets delivers better portfolio diversification opportunities during calm periods compared to turmoil periods of financial crisis.

Generational Accounting in Turkey

Damla Hacıibrahimoğlu and Pınar Derin Güre

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Generational Accounting (GA), developed by Auerbach. Gokhale and Kotlikoff (1991) is an alternative and dynamic method employed in measuring the impact of existing fiscal policies on current and future generations. In contrast to the traditional and static measures of fiscal sustainability, GA method reveals the intergenerational distribution of tax burden and helps identifying the policies that can alleviate the generational imbalance. This paper constructs and presents the first set of generational accounts for Turkey in an attempt to measure the generational gap and compare the Turkish intergenerational fiscal outlook to a number of developed and developing countries. Findings in the paper suggest that there exists a 24.3% fiscal imbalance to the disadvantage of future generations in Turkey. Several hypothetical policy experiments have been implemented in the paper to achieve the generational balance in Turkey.