Entrepreneurship in Turkey must be democratized
Güven Sak, PhD
09 November 2010
Common perception here suggests one becomes an entrepreneur only if there is no other option. Global Entrepreneurship Week continues with events held in almost a hundred countries. Number of participants of the events over the last two years is said to be above ten million. This weekend I participated in the meeting held in Ankara at Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey. The slogan of the event was 'awaken the entrepreneur within you'. It is easy to say, of course. Turkey is not yet one of the countries where entrepreneurship is democratized. Though it has to, it is not.
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Dynamism that secures a static position
Fatih Özatay, PhD
08 November 2010
Turkey is praised to shine like a star. But observations and praises do not match. It is impossible not to be surprised about praises about Turkey's economy. Just recently Turkey's economy is praised to shine like a star. We of course wished this was true. However, observations and praises do not match.
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Until when the Tea Party continues?
Güven Sak, PhD
06 November 2010
Tea Party now waits for the transformation of complaint-driven energy to policy recommendations. How shall we assess the Tea Party movement in the US? There are two lessons I have extracted from the midterm elections on November 2nd in the US. First, the economy always plays a crucial role in elections. Second, this time sort of a "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" mood was sensed. Third, Tea Party is a strong voter mobilization mechanism. This time this mechanism worked for Republican's good; but we should not yet be conclusive. So, if you wonder the story, please join me down.
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Why does not the cost of Internet fall?
Güven Sak, PhD
05 November 2010
The decision for the practice got lost within the bureaucracy of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) and the Ministry of Finance. Have you ever checked the cost of Internet in Turkey and compared it with that in other countries? Please do so. You will see that cost of Internet in Turkey is higher. In Turkey average cost of internet use per second, is almost ten times of that in Korea. Millions log into Facebook despite this. Why is that? And what is the lesson to be extracted from this story with respect to the privatization of electricity authorities? If you want to know the answer, please join me down.
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Why did the dog leave the drunken owner?
Fatih Özatay, PhD
04 November 2010
CPI index value for the last twelve months is more than twelve times the headline indicator! Yes, it is right: twelve times higher. Summation of the inflation targets for this year and the next year gives the figure twelve. Of course, in percentage ratio. The statement by the Central Bank reveal that the headline inflation indicator, which is the indicator taken into consideration particularly when making monetary policy decisions refer to the price raises as calculated via the 'l' index. This index excludes the prices of energy, food, tobacco and alcoholic beverages which are considered to be out of the scope of impact of the monetary policy.
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How can we change 'here' into 'there'?
Fatih Özatay, PhD
01 November 2010
The reason for the monetary policy tightening here is the loosening there. FED President Bernanke is referred to as 'Helicopter Ben'. And the reason for introducing the 'helicopter' prefix along with the global crisis is as follows: The primary step central banks can take to buoy the economy is lowering the short term interest rates under their control. They hope that this way interests on credits and deposits which are of greater importance for the economy will also be reduced. This way they aim to stimulate consumption and investment. But they cannot adopt such a policy if interest rate under their control is already near to zero. In that case, the only alternative to boost domestic demand is to carry out monetary expansion. In economics, an anecdote is told that the purest way of increa
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Can you fight if you have no means?
Fatih Özatay, PhD
31 October 2010
Foreign exchange flowing towards developing countries leads to further appreciation of domestic currencies. The US takes actions that give goose bumps to a group of well known economists in the country in order to boost the economy. Since 2008 there appears a significant monetary expansion in the US. On September 3, 2008, the size of the balance sheet of FED was US$907 billion. On November 5, 2008, i.e. in two months, this figure jumped up to US$2.1 trillion. Almost this entire jump resulted from the liquidity injected in the financial system. By the end of 2009, the size of the balance sheet grew slightly by US$100 million. However this time the underlying factor was purchase of Treasury bills by the FED. As of October 27, 2010 size of FED's balance sheet stands at US$2.3 trillion.
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How Deng Xiaoping was mistaken?
Güven Sak, PhD
30 October 2010
China's integration into the global world economy was the biggest project of the twentieth century. When he initiated the reformation process in China, the target of Deng Xiaoping was evident. He sought to quadruple China's growth rate over the two decades ahead. This corresponded to an annual average of 7.2 percent growth. Back then, everyone thought that this was mission impossible. But China's experience proved everyone wrong including Deng Xiaoping. Today let me introduce you Lin Yifu and tell how China mistaken Deng.
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Three Turks hardly make a French
Güven Sak, PhD
29 October 2010
The way to achieve rapid growth in Turkey is to improve urban labour productivity. OK, I do not know how to start. And it is not politically correct to say 'Turk' with a pop. We are at the age of discovering our ethnical identities. This was not so when I was a child. However this is the only way I can put my point. Sorry in advance for the inconvenience.
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Is the puzzle solved?
Fatih Özatay, PhD
28 October 2010
Factors used to explain the increase in agricultural employment apply in the regions experiencing a fall in agricultural employment, as well. Upon the debates on the increase agricultural employment Seyfettin Gürsel's commentary was published in Radikal daily on Tuesday. He, in his commentary, defined the increase as a puzzle and summarized the results of the research he and two scholars conducted (S. Gürsel, Z. İmamoğlu and T. Zeydanlı, "Puzzle of Agricultural Employment", Betam, October 21, 2010).
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