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Angry Birds has overthrown the cinema
The Angry Birds era asks for quality, not quantity. Finland, the country of the creators of Angry Birds, performs well in OECD’s PISA tests. Coincidence? The structure…
Why loans go to shopping malls instead of students?
Why is Turkey’s financial system, which is strong and generous enough to extend million-dollar loans for shopping malls, not as generous when extending student loans?…
Turks do not trust each other
I just saw a graph in OECD’s “How’s Life” showing that Turkey is the weakest among a number of countries in terms of social connections. The data comes from a Gallup…
Both positive and negative
Quarterly annual growth rates were so modest that cumulative nine-month figure was lower in 2013 than in 2012. In September industrial output increased by 6.4 percent…
Was it a translation error?
The amusing legitimacy debate going on in Turkey? I still want to believe that it is a misunderstanding caused by a translation error. Lately I have been thinking about…
Condemned to the average
You can take a month of low inflation and proudly say “we achieved the lowest inflation ratio of the last something years” for instance. I want to share a figure; it…
Don’t make promises you can’t keep
One way to end the erosion of monetary policy credibility is to state a higher CPI target. One should either keep his or her promise, or make another one that he or she…
Reduce the prices of staple foods; we can decide what to eat
The average Turk spends around 30 percent of his or her income on food, compared to 15 percent for the average French person. Would you like a tax system that loves you…
What is the significance of the Marmaray Project?
The first phase of the Marmaray Project was officially opened on Oct. 29. That is an important date – the 90th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey.…
The inscription on FX notes
If the sum of consumption and investment is higher than the GDP, current account will be negative, implying that the country did not spend according to its means and…
What does it mean to have had five education ministers in one decade?
Why is education system reform crucial for Turkey? Simply because the current system is poor, bringing Turkey only meager PISA scores. You might think that I am obsessed…
Let’s reconsider closing the private training schools
I have always believed that you should keep what you have at hand if you don’t have a better alternative in mind. Turkey has one of the highest child poverty rates among…