Determinants of School Attainment of Boys and Girls in Turkey

This study investigates the determinants of school attainments of boys and girls in Turkey. Although high levels of enrollments have been achieved at the primary school level for both boys and girls in much of Turkey, substan- tial regional differences remain. In particular, in the Southeastern region, girls begin to drop out of school around the third grade. Only half of the primary school graduates register at the middle level. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of educational attainments at the primary, middle and high school levels. Attainments of boys and girls are examined separately so as to shed light on the causes for the significantly lower level of attainment for girls. Understanding the constraints causing the large gender gap in Turkish education and the covariates related to lower overall educational levels may be useful to policy makers and planners.School attainments; gender; Turkey

Economic Development and Female Labor Force Participation in Turkey: Time-Series Evidence and Cross-Province Estimates

Recently, several researchers hypothesized that female labor force participation rate exhibits a U-shape during the process of economic development. This paper provides time series evidence on female labor force participation rates in Turkey and considers its cross-provincial determinants. Time series evidence shows that after a period of sharp decline the female labor force participation rates have exhibited a slowdown in the rate of decline recently. An upturn in this rate may be expected during the coming decades. In the cross-provincial determinants of female labor force participation the measure of development used is per capita Gross Provincial Product. A quadratic term in per capita Gross Provincial Product and other determinants are included in the models estimated. The models are estimated using data for 67 provinces for three time points-1980, 1985 and 1990. The results affirm the U-shaped impact of economic development. Further, unemployment had a considerable discouraging effect on female labor force participation while the impact of education was strongly positive. The hidden unemployment computations indicate that urban female unemployment rate is underestimated and the discouraged-worker effect for women is substantial.Turkey, development female labor force participation

Public-Private Employment Choice, Wage Differentials and Gender in Turkey

There is no evidence on the extent of public versus private wage differentials in Turkey. The main objective of this paper is to examine the factors which explain the employment choice and the wage differentials in the 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 decomposition of the wage differentials between sectors for men and women are carried out. For this purpose, results of the 1994 Household Expenditure Survey conducted by the State Institute of Statistics are used. The results indicate that when controlled for observed characteristics and sample selection, for men, public administration wages are at parity or lower than private sector wages in particular at the university level. State Economic Enterprise wages for men are higher than private sector wages except at the university level. Opposite results are obtained for women: their wages are at par or higher in public administration than in the private sector. Further, while men's and women's wages are at parity in public administration, there is a large gender wage- gap in the private sector. Lower private returns to schooling are found in public than in the private sector.Public-Private Wages; gender; Turkey

The Effects of Privatization on Labor in Turkey

The effect of privatization on labor has been one of the least addressed issues. This paper evaluates the impact of privatization on dismissed workers in Turkey. Earnings equations at state employment and after dismissal are estimated and compared to evaluate the changes in worker's welfare. Dismissed workers experienced significant earnings losses upon reemployment. Earnings losses were smaller for the self-employed than for the wage employed. Post-dismissal jobs were not only characterized by lower earnings but also by a lower quality of non-monetary attributes. The magnitude of the true welfare losses is inferred from the subjective evaluations provided by the workers themselves. Workers felt that what they had lost had not been fully compensated by the severance pay they received.Privatization, Labor Retrenchment, Compensation, Turkey

Macroeconomic Impact of Remittances on Output Growth: Evidence from Turkey

This study estimates a Keynesian simultaneous, dynamic macroeconometric model to investigate the impact of remittances on key macro variables such as consumption, investment, imports and income in Turkey. The estimated impact and dynamic multipliers indicate that impact of remittances on consumption, imports and income are all positive and reduce gradually while that on investment wears out in the second year. The impact multiplier for income implies a substantial increase in income due to remittances through the multiplier process. The remittances-induced output growth rate is highest during the early 1970s and the early 1980s, but negligible during the other years.dynamic model, remittances-induced output growth, remittances