1 TL to pee, 1.29 TL with tax for a urinary test
Güven Sak, PhD
08 March 2013
You cannot check if your MR test was done and examined properly when you get the report Last year, a friend of mine who runs a hospital told me this. You have to pay 1 TL to use a public toilet. If you went to a laboratory instead, you could both use the toilet and get a urinary test for about 2 TL. Aiming to privatize health services, the Ministry of Health was supporting private health institutions recklessly back then. But this was not based on a plan. Everyone was burning with the desire to provide services. The Ministry was spending without taking into account the budget constraints. In the end, health expenditures escalated and the number of doctors in university hospitals went downhill, after which the Ministry started to block the way of private health institutions the opening of w
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If energy imports drive the deficit, Turkey’s unemployment rate is actually 35%
Güven Sak, PhD
05 March 2013
Those who insist that the current account deficit would dissolve if Turkey’s energy bill could stop growing should argue that Turkey’s unemployment rate is 35% rather than 10%. There is a widely accepted bulk of modern time superstitions about the Turkish economy. My recent favorite is that Turkey’s dependency on energy imports is the main driver of the current account deficit. Many people defend this argument seriously. At the first instance, when you add the figures up, you too might get that impression, but the reasoning is incorrect, it is rubbish. If you agree with this statement, you might as well argue that the unemployment rate in Turkey is not the official 10%, but 35%. If you insist that it is energy imports that drive the current account deficit, then Turkey’s unemployment rate
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What is the problem with Italy?
Güven Sak, PhD
02 March 2013
It was in 2011, and I was talking to a friend in London who had just returned from Davos. My friend pitied the Italian government officials trying to arrange meetings for their prime minister. Nobody wanted to be seen with Silvio Berlusconi. Italians have a love/hate relationship with their former prime minister. Nobody really likes him, but he is more or less accepted as family. His flirty manners and scandals put him in the spotlight of the feminists, but I don’t think the majority of Italians really mind when they live in a country with so many beautiful women and such nice weather. Uncle Silvio is a bit weird and he probably owes you money, but in the Mediterranean, family matters. That seems to be part of Berlusconi’s secret, if you ask me. But Italy needs more than a charm
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The Kaesong Industrial Region is operable, the Jenin Industrial Estate project on hold
Güven Sak, PhD
01 March 2013
North and South Korea were able to settle matters much more quickly than Israel, Palestine, and Turkey were able to find a compromise. If you travel south for about two hours of North Korea's capital of Pyongyang, you will arrive at the Kaesong Industrial Region, before the demilitarized zone. Or, if you travel north from Seoul, you will arrive in Kaesong, right after the demilitarized zone, in aboutc an hour. North Korea and South Korea just hate each other. They occasionally sink each other’s ships or crash each other’s planes. But around 50,000 North Koreans as well as a thousand South Koreans go to the Kaesong Industrial Region every day to work for South Korean companies. The Region, which became operational during Kim Jong-il’s time, is approximately 65 square meters in size.
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How a course can have 155,000 students?
Güven Sak, PhD
26 February 2013
If you cannot tap the potential, someone else will. In the end, selected children of ours can have it made in the shade. Here is one thought left from the year before: can you lecture in a class of 155,000 people? It appears that you can. Last year Harvard and MIT launched an online education platform, edX, to offer free online courses. For the first course on edX, 155,000 people enrolled all from around the world. Young people from Egypt to Mongolia enrolled to attend the lectures of Nobel laureate scientists. The world has been changing rapidly, and it appears that the change will accelerate. Universities have joined the trend. This is an initial trial. I was planning to talk about the online education issue. Then I learned that the programs of the Khan Academy, one of the pioneers of on
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Two perspectives on Turkey
Güven Sak, PhD
23 February 2013
Recently I read two interviews in two different Turkish newspapers. In them, I found two perspectives on Turkey, so far apart yet so complementary. The first interview was with Brazilian football star Alexsandro de Souza at Habertürk, the second at Hürriyet with Lebanon’s current Prime Minister Necip Mikati. Though both are foreigners I will refrain from saying two foreign perspectives. Alex played for our Fenerbahçe football team for the last 8 years and Necip Mikati, after all, is a Levantine. Both interviews delve into the men’s impressions of Turkey. Reading one after the other can be rather perplexing. Ours is a country with a history of serial transformations and the ability to break with its past, not once but many times. Yet, it is a country with constant impediments to c
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E-books are more expensive than printed ones in Turkey, unlike elsewhere
Güven Sak, PhD
22 February 2013
In the rest of the world, an electronic book is sold at one third of the price of the printed book. Not in Turkey. Electronic books are cheaper than printed books all around the world. In Turkey, printed books are cheaper. The Ministry of Finance must have a reason. I mean, I don’t get it, but I want to believe they have a reason. Anyway.
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The UAE is to be the latest industrial country in our region
Güven Sak, PhD
19 February 2013
The UAE might have made bad investment decisions, but the figures prove that they are taking firm steps towards becoming an industrial country. It appears one of the winners of the Arab Spring was the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Last week, Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid al Maktum, the prime minister of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai, reported fund inflows of $8.2 billion from Yemen, Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia in the last two years. You might ask why these countries invest in the UAE, which probably will reinvest the funds in western countries. This used to be the case, but not anymore. We still assume that things will stay as they used to be, yet the world has been changing. And the change is rather swift. Just in 1995, 90 percent of the total exports of the UAE were composed of petroleum, natu
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What is the problem with Turkish soap operas?
Güven Sak, PhD
16 February 2013
So many questions could be raised about Turkey being a regional power, but one thing stands out beyond argument: Turkey’s “soap opera” power is spreading through the region. Does that juxtapose with the soft power of Turkey? I just don’t know. But Turkey’s “soap opera” power is there for sure. It is spreading from Egypt to Greece and from Iraq to Serbia. It is everywhere. It is the 24-hour glitter of Istanbul and its diversity that is attracting the attention. I do not have any idea about the regional meaning of Turkish soap operas. However, I can say a few words about the problem with Turkish soap operas, the way I see it as an insider. If these shows are a kind of a mirror reflecting the aspirations of Turkish citizens, then “Houston, we have an immense problem.” Let me tell yo
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Why does Turkey trail behind in pharmaceuticals exports?
Güven Sak, PhD
15 February 2013
Turkey has a thousandth share in pharmaceuticals exports worldwide. It has failed to transform its health industry over the last decade. Turkey's health sector transformation program was launched a decade ago, in 2003. Health indicators have improved relatively since then, but the health industries have not developed at a similar rate. The statism of the 1930s failed to mobilize the creative energy of the private sector. If you want to know how, please read on.
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