Mubarak as initiator of Arab Spring
Güven Sak, PhD
08 October 2011
Hosni Mubarak is on trial. His country is in transition, and the youth of Tahrir Square is lost in disillusionment. I have been looking at the photos of Mubarak facing prosecution on his sick bed. It’s tragic, but what goes around comes around, I suppose. A new study by Fabrice Murtin and Romain Wacziarg on “The Democratic Transition” has appeared on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (www.nber.org). I recommend everyone to take a look at it. After reading it, I have come to the conclusion that it is Hosni Mubarak himself who initiated the Arab Spring transformation in Egypt. The improvement of Egypt in the last 30 years in the 2010 Human Development Report (HDR) alone is mind boggling.
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What distinguished Steve Jobs?
Güven Sak, PhD
07 October 2011
An entrepreneur is like a sculptor who sees the shape in the stone block before he begins. Apple saw the Macintosh in Xerox Alto. This is what distinguished Steve Jobs.
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“Help the rich, have mercy on them”
Güven Sak, PhD
04 October 2011
More than a century ago, Karl Marx said that socialism primarily is a reality of developed countries.
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Ramallah to Bethlehem, how long?
Güven Sak, PhD
01 October 2011
Palestine could be the first Arab country to industrialize. The potential is there. Regarding capabilities, other than the skilled labor force, Israeli infrastructure is ironically an important asset. Israel is one of the two industrialized countries in the region, the other being Turkey. Theoretically, Palestinians should have no problems connecting to the world. Logistics infrastructure, together with the road network and ports, is right there, next door. Or that, at least, could be the verdict of a naive economist who looks at the investment climate from a distance. Has he ever tried travelling from Ramallah to Bethlehem? That makes a difference. It allows you to understand the frustration of the Palestinian business community. It can also put into perspective the membership
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A country that gives credit to banditry cannot improve its value added
Güven Sak, PhD
30 September 2011
Turkey cannot improve its domestic value added unless solid applicable steps are taken about intellectual property rights. What is the similarity between Turkey and China? “Our growth performance, obviously” is not the answer. There is no similarity in that regard. I believe that Turkey can compare to China with respect to low value added. Take the iPod production in China, for instance. We used to listen to music with cassettes on our Walkmans. Now it is the era of iPods and online audio downloads. According to one study, China sells iPods for 150 USD each. Out of this amount, the value added of Chinese workers is only 4 USD. That is, the value added is substantially low. An iPad also involves components with high value added, but those are imported. Is the issue any different in Turkey?
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Europe’s solution is Turkey’s problem
Güven Sak, PhD
27 September 2011
The recapitalization of banks in Europe will sharpen the competition over the temporary savings surplus and increase the cost of these resources for Turkey. Europe needs to introduce serious measures, one way or another. Either the European Union will lead the process directly and resolve the problem or a resolution will emerge automatically through banks, the credit ratings of which are being lowered one after another. In any case, renowned European banks will have to obtain capital support from some channel. The way things have been evolving is apparent. By European banks I do not refer solely to the banks of the Union member states. It appears that Sweden and others also are involved. So, what will happen to Turkey if European banks start strengthening their capital structure? Let’s see
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Does Turkey accept refugees from Somalia now?
Güven Sak, PhD
24 September 2011
Not that I know of. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in New York yesterday, speaking to the U.N. General Assembly. He described the poverty he saw in Somalia and said he considered the situation there a disgrace to the international community. Somalia is definitely in a horrific state. But Turkey does not accept permanent asylum seekers from Somalia, nor, for that matter, from Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan. Turkey is one of the few countries in the world that continues to apply the geographical restriction of the 1951 Geneva Convention. Many immigrants who do make it here live and work illegally. As Turkey grows into a beacon of stability, prosperity and liberty in the region, it urgently needs to adopt a coherent immigration policy. Speaking of Somalia’s plight in any other
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Where will the exchange rate head?
Güven Sak, PhD
23 September 2011
The economy has accumulated risks during the process of uncontrolled growth. The exchange rate adjustment is seen as a remedy to this problem. It appears that the festive holiday break of the exchange rate adjustment has ended. We have been watching the exchange rate movements since the beginning of the week. Okay, the external circumstances are chaotic and the increase in the dollar exchange rate stems to a large extent from the euro/dollar parity. However, the impact of such chaos did not use to be like this. The Turkish Lira did not depreciate as such, but even appreciated slightly. Exchange rates tended to remain constant over a long time. No one used to talk so frequently about dollarization. For the first time since 2001, entrepreneurs had started to borrow in dollar terms with the a
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I am at the Erzurum-REDEVCO Shopping Mall
Güven Sak, PhD
20 September 2011
Women in Erzurum participate in business life more. Erzurum is changing as Turkey is changing. Yesterday this tweet was on Twitter: "I am at Erzurum REDEVCO Shopping Mall." I see thismessage every day, actually. What is the point here: There is a shopping mall in Erzurum. There wasn't one a couple of years ago. Moreover, there are people wandering around in that mall with iPhone or BlackBerry smartphones. Neither was this possible a couple of years ago. The world is changing. Turkey is changing, as well. So, does Erzurum, naturally. As of yesterday, I started to see this tweet in English. I was happy to see this. Another tweet from Sunday was from Antep. It said, "The view in Gaziantep towards morning from Sankopark's terrace," accompanied by a picture of Gaziantep. We did not have these i
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TRT-Arabic in action
Güven Sak, PhD
17 September 2011
TRT, Turkey’s public broadcaster, launched its Arabic-language station about a year ago. This was supposed to be the landmark for Turkey’s return to the region. What a return! Prime Minister Erdoğan has started his tour of North Africa right after the Arab Spring. He was disembarking the plane. All Turkish channels were broadcasting the event live. I switched to TRT-Arabic. I was just curious. And surely enough, during a historic moment for Turkey in the Arab World, TRT-Arabic was running a documentary on timber production in Turkey.
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