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Purpose - Two major earthquakes which struck Northwestern Turkey in 1999 exposed rampant corruption involving construction and zoning code violations. The government's relief efforts were tainted by corruption as well, and exhibited a great deal of incompetence. How voters responded to these in the next election held in 2002 is investigated. The fact that different group of parties were responsible for the construction of the shoddy buildings, and for the corruption and mismanagement related to relief, provided us with a unique opportunity to determine whether and how the electorate punished the culprits for each of these. The purpose of this paper is to shed light also on the new party system which emerged in Turkey after 2002.

The main objective of this article is to examine the factors that explain the employment choice and the wage differentials in public administration, state‐owned enterprises, and the formal private wage sector in Turkey. Selectivity‐corrected wage equations are estimated for each sector for men and women separately. Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition of the wage differentials between sectors by gender and between men and women by sector are carried out. Results indicate that when controlled for observed characteristics and sample selection, for men public administration wages are higher than private sector wages except at the university level where the wages are at par. State‐owned enterprise wages for men are higher than private sector wages. Similar results are obtained for women. Further, while the wages of men and women are at parity in the public administration, there is a large gender wage gap in the private sector in favor of men. Private returns to schooling are found to be lower in the noncompetitive public rather than in the competitive private sector.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of health behaviors and obesity with an emphasis on education in Turkey. We use Health Survey of Turkish Statistical Institute for the years 2008, 2010 and 2012. The health behaviors considered are smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, and exercise. We consider both the years of schooling and the different levels of education in order to better understand the association between education and health. We find that education is the most important factor associated with the health behaviors and obesity. Smoking is positively associated with education at all levels with a decreasing effect with the level of education unlike in the developed countries. Alcohol consumption is positively related with education and this association increases with the level of education. Higher educated individuals clearly eat more fruits, vegetables and exercise more and they are less likely to be obese compared to the less educated and the illiterate. We also highlight the importance of demographic factors, labor market status and household income in determining health behaviors and obesity.

This study investigates the causal effect of education on health behaviors and obesity in Turkey, which is a middle-income developing country. Health Surveys of the Turkish Statistical Institute for the years 2008, 2010 and 2012 are used. The health behaviors considered are smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, and exercise, and one health outcome, namely, obesity. We examine the causal effect of education on these health behaviors and on obesity. An instrumental variable approach is used in order to address the endogeneity of education to health behaviors. Educational expansion of the early 1960s is used as the source of exogenous variation in the years of schooling. Our main findings are as follows. Education does not significantly affect the probability of smoking or exercise. As the education level increases, the probability of alcohol consumption and the probability of fruit and vegetable consumption also increase. Nevertheless, some of the initial results change when we perform robustness checks. In order to check the robustness of our results, we narrow the time period around the policy years, since the impact of political and socio-economic developments may change the preferences of the individuals and hence invalidate our results. The evidence from the samples used for robustness checks suggests that there is a negative significant relationship between the probability of smoking and the years of schooling. Therefore, we can state that education can be a relevant policy instrument to fight smoking in Turkey. However, it is not a sufficient policy instrument to combat obesity, unlike in developed countries. This study provides a baseline for further research on the various aspects of health behaviors in Turkey. ResumeCette etude examine le lien de cause a effet entre l'instruction et les comportements lies a la sante ainsi que l'obesite en Turquie, pays en developpement a revenu intermediaire. Nous utilisons les enquetes sur la sante de l'Institut statistique turc pour les annees 2008, 2010 et 2012. Les comportements lies a la sante qui sont consideres sont le tabagisme, la consommation d'alcool, la consommation de fruits et legumes, l'exercice physique et l'un des resultats en terme de sante, a savoir l'obesite. Nous examinons l'effet causal de l'instruction sur ces comportements de sante et l'obesite. L'approche de la variable instrumentale est utilisee pour traiter l'endogeneite du niveau d'instruction par rapport aux comportements de sante. L'expansion de l'instruction du debut des annees 1960 est utilisee comme source de variation exogene au cours de la scolarite. Nos principales conclusions sont les suivantes. Le niveau d'instruction n'a pas d'incidence significative sur la probabilite de fumer ou de faire de l'exercice. mesure que le niveau d'instruction augmente, la probabilite de consommation d'alcool et celle de fruits et legumes augmente egalement. Neanmoins, certains des resultats initiaux changent lorsque nous effectuons des controles de robustesse. Afin de verifier la robustesse de nos resultats, nous reduisons la periode aux annees directement avant et apres des decisions politiques cles car l'impact des developpements politiques et socio-economiques peut modifier les preferences des individus et, par consequent, invalider nos resultats. Les preuves provenant des echantillons utilises pour les controles de robustesse suggerent qu'il existe une relation negative significative entre la probabilite de fumer et le nombre d'annees de scolarite.

This study investigates the causal effect of education on health behaviors and obesity in Turkey, which is a middle-income developing country. Health Surveys of the Turkish Statistical Institute for the years 2008, 2010 and 2012 are used. The health behaviors considered are smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, and exercise, and one health outcome, namely, obesity. We examine the causal effect of education on these health behaviors and on obesity. An instrumental variable approach is used in order to address the endogeneity of education to health behaviors. Educational expansion of the early 1960s is used as the source of exogenous variation in the years of schooling. Our main findings are as follows. Education does not significantly affect the probability of smoking or exercise. As the education level increases, the probability of alcohol consumption and the probability of fruit and vegetable consumption also increase. Nevertheless, some of the initial results change when we perform robustness checks. In order to check the robustness of our results, we narrow the time period around the policy years, since the impact of political and socio-economic developments may change the preferences of the individuals and hence invalidate our results. The evidence from the samples used for robustness checks suggests that there is a negative significant relationship between the probability of smoking and the years of schooling. Therefore, we can state that education can be a relevant policy instrument to fight smoking in Turkey. However, it is not a sufficient policy instrument to combat obesity, unlike in developed countries. This study provides a baseline for further research on the various aspects of health behaviors in Turkey. ResumeCette etude examine le lien de cause a effet entre l'instruction et les comportements lies a la sante ainsi que l'obesite en Turquie, pays en developpement a revenu intermediaire. Nous utilisons les enquetes sur la sante de l'Institut statistique turc pour les annees 2008, 2010 et 2012. Les comportements lies a la sante qui sont consideres sont le tabagisme, la consommation d'alcool, la consommation de fruits et legumes, l'exercice physique et l'un des resultats en terme de sante, a savoir l'obesite. Nous examinons l'effet causal de l'instruction sur ces comportements de sante et l'obesite. L'approche de la variable instrumentale est utilisee pour traiter l'endogeneite du niveau d'instruction par rapport aux comportements de sante. L'expansion de l'instruction du debut des annees 1960 est utilisee comme source de variation exogene au cours de la scolarite. Nos principales conclusions sont les suivantes. Le niveau d'instruction n'a pas d'incidence significative sur la probabilite de fumer ou de faire de l'exercice. mesure que le niveau d'instruction augmente, la probabilite de consommation d'alcool et celle de fruits et legumes augmente egalement. Neanmoins, certains des resultats initiaux changent lorsque nous effectuons des controles de robustesse. Afin de verifier la robustesse de nos resultats, nous reduisons la periode aux annees directement avant et apres des decisions politiques cles car l'impact des developpements politiques et socio-economiques peut modifier les preferences des individus et, par consequent, invalider nos resultats. Les preuves provenant des echantillons utilises pour les controles de robustesse suggerent qu'il existe une relation negative significative entre la probabilite de fumer et le nombre d'annees de scolarite.

This study examines the effects of fragmented governments and fiscal authorities on budget deficits in Turkey along with political business cycle effects. For econometric analysis we will use annual data from the period 1960 to 2009. This article sheds light on various dispersion indices and their use in the field of political power and fiscal performance. The results show that the power dispersion indices of governments and fiscal institutions significantly explain the increases in the ratio of budget deficit to gross national product. The article draws attention to the unification and better coordination of fiscal authorities in Turkey. The analysis has important policy implications for Turkey and other developing countries from the viewpoint of fragmented political and administrative dispersion of power and poor budget performances. (JEL P16, H72, C22, C43)

This study examines the worker transitions across labor market states including formal/informal division using panel data of 2006 to 2012 from Egypt. We generate a broad set of facts about labor market dynamics in Egypt. We first develop transition probabilities by gender across different labor market states including formal/informal sectors utilizing Markov transition processes. Government employment is the most persistent labor market state for both men and women and the out of labor force is the second most persistent labor market state for women. Unemployment is the most mobile labor market state. Informal private wage work and self-employed-agriculture are also relatively mobile labor market states. We next identify the effects of individual, household and job characteristics on different mobility patterns by estimating multinomial logit models. We find that gender, age, education, experience, and several sectors of economic activity are associated with the transition probabilities between the labor market states considered such as formal wage, informal wage, self-employment, unemployment, government employment, and out of labor market. Education, in particular, university degree or above is noted to play a vital role in the probability of transitions across several labor market states.

This study examines the worker transitions across labor market states including formal/informal division using panel data of 2006 to 2012 from Egypt. We generate a broad set of facts about labor market dynamics in Egypt. We first develop transition probabilities by gender across different labor market states including formal/informal sectors utilizing Markov transition processes. Government employment is the most persistent labor market state for both men and women and the out of labor force is the second most persistent labor market state for women. Unemployment is the most mobile labor market state. Informal private wage work and self-employed-agriculture are also relatively mobile labor market states. We next identify the effects of individual, household and job characteristics on different mobility patterns by estimating multinomial logit models. We find that gender, age, education, experience, and several sectors of economic activity are associated with the transition probabilities between the labor market states considered such as formal wage, informal wage, self-employment, unemployment, government employment, and out of labor market. Education, in particular, university degree or above is noted to play a vital role in the probability of transitions across several labor market states.

Türkiye'nin güneybatısında yer alan Antalya ve Muğla illeri son zamanlarda iç göç için birer mıknatıs haline geldiler. Daha önce yaptığımız bir araştırmada, bu illere göçü doğuran dinamiklerin, pek çok bakımdan, iç göçü geleneksel mekânlara çeken dinamiklerden farklı olduğuna dikkat çekmiştik. Bu çalışmada ise başka önemli yönlerden, Antalya ve Muğla'ya olan göçün geleneksel merkezlere olan göç ile ne kadar benzer olduğunu göstererek önceki bulgularımızı tamamlıyoruz. Bunu, EKK ve Robust regresyon metodları kullanarak, bahsi geçen her iki il için ayrı birer çekim (gravity) modeli saptayarak gerçekleştiriyoruz. Bulgularımıza göre, Antalya ve Muğlaya olan göç, çıkış noktasına olan uzaklık arttıkça olumsuz, çıkıs noktası ile varış noktası işsizlik oranları arasındaki fark, çıkiş noktasından alınmış geçmiş göç, çıkış ve varış noktalarının nüfusları ve çıkış noktasında meydana gelen afetlerin büyüklüğü arttıkça olumlu etkilenmektedir.

The Impact of population mobility on provincial turnout rates in the 2011 Turkish parliamentary election is studied, controlling for the effects of other socio-economic, demographic, political and institutional factors. Consequences of migration both at destinations and origins are considered. According to the robust regressions estimated, the relationship between turnout and education is inverse U-shaped, and between turnout and age (including generational effects), it is U-shaped. Immigration, emigration, large population, a large number of parliament members elected from a constituency, participation by large number of parties, and existence of a dominant party depress the turnout rate. However, at destinations where large numbers of immigrants from different regions are concentrated, the opportunity afforded to them to elect one of their own reduces the adverse impact of immigration significantly and in some cases even turns it to positive. That emigration, and education beyond certain level, have negative effects on turnout, that immigration's adverse effect is less in areas with high migrant concentrations, and that in Turkey, political participation is highest among the youngest voters are the novel findings of the study. The latter finding may explain why voter turnout declines in Europe and North America but not in Turkey.

During last sixty years, Turkish population moved from one province to another at the rate of about 7-8 percent per five-year interval. As a consequence of this massive internal migration, population residing in a province other than the one they were born in increased from 12 percent in 1950 to 39 percent in 2011. Impact of this population instability on provincial turnout rates in 2011 parliamentary election is studied, controlling for the effects of other socio-economic, demographic, political and institutional factors. Consequences of migration both at destinations and origins are considered. According to robust regressions estimated, the relationship between turnout and education is inverse U-shaped, and between turnout and age, U-shaped. The latter reflects generational differences as well. Large population, large number parliament members to be elected from a constituency, participation by large number of parties, and existence of a dominant party depress the turnout rate. A percentage increase in the proportion of emigrants among the people born in a province reduces turnout rate in that province by 0.13 percentage points, while a percentage increase in the ratio of immigrants in the population of a province reduces it by 0.06 percentage points. However, at destinations where large numbers of immigrants from different regions are concentrated, the opportunity afforded to immigrants to elect one of their own, reduces the latter adverse impact significantly and in some cases turns it to positive.