Who pays the most cigarette tax in Turkey

Background Although higher taxation of tobacco products is considered the most cost-effective tobacco control policy, its negative impact on low-income groups is one of the arguments used against it. Objective To investigate the impact of current excise taxes and the increases of excise taxes on tobacco and household expenditures by expenditure tertiles, and examine who pays excise taxes in general. Method Impacts of excise taxes on cigarettes are examined with a budgetary approach. We first estimate the price elasticity of cigarettes by expenditure tertiles using data from the 2003 Turkish Household Expenditure Survey, the most recent data set covering detailed tobacco product information relevant to our analysis. We then conduct a number of simulation analyses by increasing the excise taxes per pack of cigarettes and examine the impacts of these increases on household expenditures. Finally, as excise tax increases, we predict the total excise tax paid by households in different expenditure tertiles and compare the concentration curve of excise tax spending with the Lorenz curve showing the cumulative share of total household expenditures by expenditure tertiles. We estimate the progressivity coefficient that measures the area between the Lorenz and concentration curves. Results The low-income group is found to be the most sensitive to tax and price increases. It spends a relatively higher share of the household expenditure on cigarettes compared with higher income groups. However, the results suggest a different outcome as excise tax increases; the share of household expenditures spent on cigarettes declines for all household tertiles but a significant reduction occurs on the lowest expenditure tertile, suggesting that increases in excise taxes are progressive. Furthermore, the highest expenditure tertile pays the highest excise tax among expenditure tertiles, and their share in total excise revenue increases as the excise tax per pack of cigarettes increases. Conclusions The poor smoking households benefit the most from increases in excise taxes; from a budgetary perspective, as they reduce their smoking consumption significantly, the share of their excise payment in total household expenditures declines. From a health perspective, they are likely to have more health benefits as their consumption reduces. Government revenues are also predicted to increase with increased excise taxes, and the government can allocate a part of these revenue increases on implementing and enforcing other tobacco control measures including cessation support and smokefree environments. © 2015, BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved

Foreign banks, financial crises and macroeconomic fluctuations

Understanding the implications of increased foreign bank presence is especially compelling in periods of financial crisis. In this paper, we explore this issue by examining the relationship between the involvement of foreign banks in the banking systems and the volatility of key macroeconomic variables in normal and crisis periods. Using a sample of 20 Emerging European countries from 1998 to 2013, we find that an increase in the assets of foreign banks in the banking system reduces output and consumption growth volatility in general but does not significantly affect the volatility of investments. However, these banks were found to play a significant role in increasing output, consumption and investment volatility in 2009. Our findings suggest that foreign banks’ harmful impact during the global crisis was only temporary and that they seem to help Emerging European countries stabilize macroeconomic volatility in normal times and after the global crisis. © 2016 The Authors Economics of Transition © 2016 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Published by Blackwell Publishing Lt

Information and volatility

This study examines the volatility of daily stock returns and the volatility of returns during trading and non-trading hours for securities trading on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Some unique characteristics of this exchange enable us to examine the reasons for the high volatility during trading hours. First, the price-determination procedure at the opening is the same as the pricing mechanism used during the rest of the day. Second, there is no specialist or market maker who sets prices. Third, there is a two-hour day break in trading during a business day. The volatility of daily return calculated from opening prices is found to be significantly higher than those calculated from closing prices in this market setting as well. Volatility of returns during trading periods is found to be higher than those during non-trading periods. Furthermore, per-hour volatility during the day break is higher than per-hour volatility during the night break. Findings of this study have some implications for the role of market maker and the impact of timing and length of a break in trading on the volatility of security returns. © 2002 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved

The impact of public perception of earthquake risk on Istanbul's housing market

This paper examines the impact of public perception of earthquake risk on Istanbul's housing market by investigating the spatial distribution of the average house values and the changes in average house prices in Istanbul between 1995 and 2000. Soil type and distance to the fault lines in the Sea of Marmara are used as proxies for public perception of earthquake risk. The results of regression analysis show that distance from fault lines is an important factor in explaining house values and its impact on house values increased after the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake. Furthermore, there is a quadratic relationship between soil type and house values. However, none of the measures of earthquake risk significantly affect the change in house values. These findings suggest that public perception of earthquake risk enhanced and the public information about earthquake hazard had significant impact on house values

Production of PEG grafted PAN copolymers and their electrospun nanowebs as novel thermal energy storage materials

This paper deals with the synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafted poly(acrylo nitrile) (PAN) copolymers as novel solid-solid phase change materials via two step free radical polymerization reaction. The structural and thermal characterizations of the synthesized copolymers, namely PEG1500-g-PAN, PEG2000-g-PAN, PEG4000-g-PAN, PEG10000-g-PAN and PEG35000-g-PAN, were performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry. They were thermally stable and had the capability of absorbing and releasing great amount of heat ranging between 70 and 126 Jg-1 at the temperature interval of 40‒65 oC during heating and successive cooling cycles. To transform the PEG-g-PAN copolymers into the assemblies appropriate for thermal energy storage (TES) systems, thermo-regulating PEG-g-PAN nanowebs were also produced by means of coaxial electrospinning. The SEM images of PEG-g-PAN nanowebs displayed that they were all composed of hollow cylindrical ultrafine fibers with the average diameters ranging in 175‒277 nm. During the differential scanning calorimetry measurements, those nanowebs demonstrated repeatable solid-solid phase change with the heat storage capacities varying between 35 and 75 Jg-1 at the same temperature interval with the corresponding PEG-g- PAN copolymers. The PEG-g-PAN copolymers and their electrospun nanowebs can be promising TES materials and can have convenient industrial applications

Comprehensive dissection of prevalence rates, sex differences, and blood level-dependencies of clozapine-associated adverse drug reactions

Clozapine is often underused due to concerns about adverse drug reactions (ADRs) but studies into their prevalences are inconclusive. We therefore comprehensively examined prevalences of clozapineassociated ADRs in individuals with schizophrenia and demographic and clinical factors associated with their occurrence. Data from a multi-center study (n=698 participants) were collected. The mean number of ADRs during clozapine treatment was 4.8, with 2.4% of participants reporting no ADRs. The most common ADRs were hypersalivation (74.6%), weight gain (69.3%), and increased sleep necessity (65.9%), all of which were more common in younger participants. Participants with lower BMI prior to treatment were more likely to experience significant weight gain (>10%). Constipation occurred more frequently with higher clozapine blood levels and doses. There were no differences in ADR prevalence rates between participants receiving clozapine monotherapy and polytherapy. These findings emphasize the high prevalence of clozapine-associated ADRs and highlight several demographic and clinical factors contributing to their occurrence. By understanding these factors, clinicians can better anticipate and manage clozapine-associated ADRs, leading to improved treatment outcomes and patient well-being

Age- and region-specific hepatitis B prevalence in Turkey estimated using generalized linear mixed models: a systematic review

Toy M, Önder FO, Wörmann T, et al. Age- and region-specific hepatitis B prevalence in Turkey estimated using generalized linear mixed models: a systematic review. BMC infectious diseases. 2011;11(1): 337.BACKGROUND: To provide a clear picture of the current hepatitis B situation, the authors performed a systematic review to estimate the age- and region-specific prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Turkey. METHODS: A total of 339 studies with original data on the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in Turkey and published between 1999 and 2009 were identified through a search of electronic databases, by reviewing citations, and by writing to authors. After a critical assessment, the authors included 129 studies, divided into categories: 'age-specific'; 'region-specific'; and 'specific population group'. To account for the differences among the studies, a generalized linear mixed model was used to estimate the overall prevalence across all age groups and regions. For specific population groups, the authors calculated the weighted mean prevalence. RESULTS: The estimated overall population prevalence was 4.57, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.58, 5.76, and the estimated total number of CHB cases was about 3.3 million. The outcomes of the age-specific groups varied from 2.84, (95% CI: 2.60, 3.10) for the 0-14-year olds to 6.36 (95% CI: 5.83, 6.90) in the 25-34-year-old group. CONCLUSION: There are large age-group and regional differences in CHB prevalence in Turkey, where CHB remains a serious health problem