2023

Last Updated:

08/02/2024 - 12:37

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The ‘Missing Middle’: A Historical-Institutional Perspective on the Stagnation of Small and Medium Enterprises in Turkey

Seven Ağır

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The small and medium-sized enterprises might play an essential role in the economy of a developing country. Yet, in developing countries, relatively fewer firms have been able to transition from micro enterprises focusing on survival to small and medium enterprises with higher capacity for innovation and job creation. This problem of the ‘missing middle’ has been identified as one of the barriers to increasing economic prosperity and therefore the ‘reasons’ underlying it have been examined in studies on various parts of the developing world. This study examines the ‘missing middle’ problem from a historical-institutional perspective by focusing on the underutilization of a novel form of business organization, i.e., PLLC in Turkey. Based upon a novel dataset of firm creation and desk research on legal changes in Turkey during 1957-1994, the study demonstrates the ‘missing’ PLLCs and discuss the potential factors underlying legal stagnation.

The Growth Effects of Alternative Early Childhood Development Investment Policies in the Turkish Economy

Serap Sağır, Çağaçan Değer and Dürdane Şirin Saraçoğlu

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The topic of early childhood development (ECD) and investment in ECD has come to the forefront recently, especially in the case of developing countries, and it is among the 2030 SDGs of the UN. Until recently, human capital has been associated with years of schooling. However, the latest studies show that brain development is fastest in the ECD period, which starts in the prenatal period and ends before formal schooling. Experiences during this period and even maternal health before pregnancy have persistent effects on an individual’s human capital. Investing in human capital during the ECD period is more effective than investing later in life. In this paper, we develop a 9-period overlapping generations model examining the impact of parental human capital investment on economic growth. Using a multiperiod human capital formation technology with parental human capital and monetary input, we investigate the effects of alternative policies targeting the ECD period to reach the highest economic growth rate. We calibrate our model to 2019 Turkish data and find that mandatory and matching funds are more effective than lump-sum subsidies, which increase household income and leave the investment

The Impact of Maternal Education on Early Childhood Development: The Case of Turkey

Deniz Karaoğlan, Serap Sağır, Meltem Dayıoğlu and Dürdane Şirin Saraçoğlu

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In this paper we investigate the relationship between mother’s education level and the development of young children in Turkey using representative microdata from the 2018 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS). The data include detailed information about the developmental status of young children of 36-to-59 months old. We find that only when the mother has at least a high school level education, there is a positive impact on the child’s developmental status as summarized the Early Childhood Development (ECD) index, which is an index constructed based on the child’s four developmental domains. We also show that the household’s wealth is also positively associated with the child’s developmental status, particularly in the socio-emotional and the learning readiness domains.

Türkiye’deki İktisat Bölümlerinde Akademik Kendileşme

H. Cem Doğan and Haluk Kasnakoğlu

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Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’de iktisat bölümlerinde, doktoralı akademisyenlerin, ne oranda aynı kurumdan akademik derecelerini ve unvanlarını aldıkları konu edilmektedir. Akademik Kendileşme olarak adlandırılan bu olgu, çalışmada değişik ölçütler kullanılarak 136 iktisat bölümü ve bu kurumlarda istihdam edilen1.354 doktoralı akademisyen üzerinden incelenmiştir. En genel haliyle kendileşme, aynı bölümden doktora almış elemanların, o bölümdeki toplam doktoralı öğretim elemanı sayısına bölümüdür. Türkiye ortalaması ise doktora aldığı bölümde istihdam edilen akademisyen sayısının bölümdeki toplam doktoralı akademisyen sayısına oranıdır.

Türkiye’de iktisat bölümlerinde, çalıştığı bölümden doktora almış öğretim üyesi sayısı 405’tir. Bütün bölümler düşünülürse kendileşme oranı %30, doktora veren bölümler düşünülürse %43, en az bir doktora mezununu istihdam eden bölümler düşünülürse %49 olmaktadır.

Doktorası aynı kurumdan olan akademisyenlerin oranı Çukurova, Atatürk ve Afyon Kocatepe üniversitelerinde %90-%100 arasında, Selçuk, İstanbul, Marmara, Anadolu ve Erciyes üniversitelerinde %80’nin üzerindedir.

Çalışmada, geleneksel kendileşme ölçütü olarak kullanılan kendinden doktoralı oranı yanı sıra, çalışılan kurumdan alınan doktora öncesi dereceleri de hesaba katan Güçlü Kendileşme ve ek olarak aynı kurumdan alınan akademik unvanları da hesaba katan Çok Güçlü Kendileşme endeksleri ve bunların varyantları da geliştirilmiştir.

Çukurova, Afyon Kocatepe, Atatürk, Selçuk, Erciyes, Marmara ve İstanbul üniversitelerindeki iktisat bölümleri, kendileşme sıralamalarının tamamında veya kendileşme ölçütlerinin çoğunda üst sıralarda yer almaktadır. Pamukkale, İstanbul Medeniyet, Bilecik Şeyh Edebali, Akdeniz, Bandırma Onyedi Eylül, Trakya ve Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi iktisat bölümleri ise kendileşmenin görece düşük olduğu bölümlerdir.

Çalışmada, geliştirilen ve hesaplanan kendileşme ölçütlerinin kendi aralarındaki ilişkiler ile etkiledikleri/etkilendikleri değişkenler arasındaki ilişkilere de yer verilmiştir.

AgroPV’s Potential Opportunities and Challenges In A Mediterranean Developing Country Setting: A Farmer’s Perspective

Seven Ağır, Pınar Derin Güre and Bilge Şentürk

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Adopting agrophotovoltaic (AgroPV) systems involves many challenges, not only technical issues but also social and institutional challenges underlying insufficient social acceptance and institutional support. Using semi-structured interviews with the pioneer farmers, we explore the social and institutional challenges that may arise in implementing AgroPV systems in a developing country context—Turkiye—where there is currently no legislation on AgroPV. Still, the synergistic impact of AgroPV is highly probably due to climatic conditions in the Mediterranean setting. The pioneer farmers exhibit a highly positive attitude towards AgroPV systems reflecting that they recognize and highly value this synergistic potential. In particular, they are perceptive about how they may use AgroPV techniques to solve local problems, including those exacerbated by input dependency and climate change, beyond an abstract (economic or financial) opportunity dimension. In other words, there is a strong motivational drive for AgroPV given the challenges in Turkish agriculture; however, the weak institutional setting may channel farmers away from its adoption. Our interviews reveal that the institutional setting undermines predictability, which is vital in farmers’ willingness and ability to participate in long-term, capital-intensive projects such as Agrivoltaics. Bureaucracy’s distrust of potential investors, probably caused by low procedural capacity, seems to have bred a negative official attitude towards ‘dual-use’ innovations. This problem, in return, explains farmers’ negative experiences, such as red tape in receiving licenses and permits, contributing to their doubts about sustained government support. Understanding this institutional setting is crucial for overcoming the bias towards developed countries in the literature and providing a more informed perspective before further legislative changes.

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