Karl Marx in corporate boardrooms
Güven Sak, PhD
03 September 2011
If Marx was right in his opening remarks of "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" in 1852, then is he in trouble? Remember the opening lines? "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice." he wrote. "He forgot to add: the first time as a tragedy, the second time as a farce." Look what is happening now. Not a day has passed without seeing a piece titled "Karl Marx was right." It is a kind of a second coming for the great philosopher and activist. Che Guevera has turned into a disco dance tune lately and what of Marx now? Should we be concerned? I don't think so.
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What a contrast!
Güven Sak, PhD
02 September 2011
It is wrong to issue decrees that will confuse investors instead of taking steps to ensure that the new Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) functions properly. The parenthesis provision on independent administrative authorities is also wrong.
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Asymmetry
Fatih Özatay, PhD
01 September 2011
If you comment so much on the exchange rate, you will be stuck in a difficult position when circumstances change. I have been chattering about 'commenting on exchange rate'. I could not fully enjoy this as the Jackson Hale speech of Bernanke interrupted it. Today let me continue from where I stopped.
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Looking ahead to a speech
Fatih Özatay, PhD
30 August 2011
Markets are looking ahead to the meeting Fed President will be holding with a group of central bankers and academics. All eyes were on FED President Bernanke who was going to make a speech at Jackson Hole on August 26. Markets were wondering whether or not Bernanke will announce a new quantitative easing (QE) program. This was the burning question. In his speech, Bernanke did not mention a new QE. He rather highlighted the strengths of the US economy. He stated that he has positive expectations especially for the long term. There were significant issues that have to do with the long term, but fundamental problems were rather short-term issues, he said. He also drew attention to the FED meeting to be held in September and stressed that a new assessment will be made thereby.
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The Chilean Winter is not so different from the Arab Spring
Güven Sak, PhD
30 August 2011
Throughout the world, the middle-class has a problem. From this perspective, the Chilean Spring is not so different from the Arab Spring. Camila Vallejo Dowling was born in 1988. She is a member of the Chilean Communist Youth Organization and the second female president of the 105-year-old Student Federation of the University of Chile. Chilean secondary and tertiary students have been in the streets since June. Camilla is leading them. The Chilean education system was privatized with Pinochet's coup. The youth ask for a reversal. This makes one think of the old adage that history repeats itself. Prof. İsmail Türk said this years ago; but I did not think that this argument would prove correct this soon. Globalization has accelerates history. Let me tell you why history is repeating itself.
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End of Mickey Mouse state in Libya
Güven Sak, PhD
27 August 2011
Libya is one of those countries where two cultures meet with each other in a rather visible fashion. Do you remember the opening observations of Trotsky in "Russian Revolution 1917"? Just like that: "Savages throw away their bows and arrows for rifles all at once, without travelling the road which lay between these two weapons in the past." Whenever I think of the now deposed president of the Mickey Mouse state in Libya, I think of this articulation of cultures and/or modes of production. There are two types of countries in the world: Those that are integrated and those that are articulated to the global economic system. Libya belongs to the second. There are so many countries in our neighborhood that belong to this second group. Turkey on the other hand belongs to the first gro
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I want to read news about innovation
Güven Sak, PhD
26 August 2011
Making local authorities compete for industrialization is one of the best aspects of the Chinese model. These days the news in the papers has been depressing me. One paper says that independent administrative authorities will now be dependent. We can even abolish these authorities, a minister argues. The crisis will not hit Turkey even slightly, they say. What is more, we are planning to manufacture the most beautiful car ever. What can I say? Let us hope for the best. But I do not want to read such news in the papers anymore. I want to read news like what was published in The China Times recently. If you wonder what I am talking about, please read on.
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Why was Turkey differentiated from other developing countries?
25 August 2011
Recently, a remarkable dynamism has been observed in Turkey in parallel with the trend in global markets. Exchange rate and stock market movements became the top agenda items of the economy. However, a closer look at the data suggests that the trend that carried the foreign exchange (FX) basket (0.5 Dollar and 0.5 Euro) from 1.68 to 2.18 actually emerged in November 2010 (Figure 1).
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When is it wrong to comment on the exchange rate?
Fatih Özatay, PhD
25 August 2011
In periods when risk appetite decreases, central bank officials should not comment on the exchange rate. I have been arguing that in the current climate of high uncertainties, it was not correct for central bank officials to comment and speculate on the exchange rate and that it was even worse to imply a certain level of exchange rate. I have written commentaries telling why I believe so this week. Since the issue is highly important concerning monetary policy, digging deeper might be useful. Today, I want to address the issue with reference to when it is and it is not wrong to comment. Therefore, I evidently do not argue that central bank officials should never comment on exchange rate. There might be periods when talking about the exchange rate might be harmless. However, mone
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Guidelines for beginners to understand civil-military relations in Turkey: III
Nihat Ali Özcan, PhD
25 August 2011
From the first days of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, rule onward, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan knew that some generals were not happy with the new political situation. Thanks to open sources of information and intelligence, he was also able to see that this "unhappy" group led by some four-star generals was openly challenging the government. Until September 2005, Erdoğan and Co. decided to focus on the EU process, gather more information and observe the situation.
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