Will CNC operators go extinct like cotton fluffers?
Güven Sak, PhD
01 February 2013
Just like that: technological advancement changes even the structure of institutions. It is hard to accept at first, but that’s the reality. When I was a kid in Bursa, cotton fluffers used to make the rounds through the neighborhoods. They don’t anymore. Have you ever seen one? Back then, mattresses had a different technology content. Mattresses, blankets, and pillows were made of cotton or wool. It flattened as you slept on it, so fluffers would come to fluff the cotton or wool in the street alleys. This way, the mattresses would become soft again and regain their shape. Then, the technology changed and the use of innerspring mattresses started to spread. The cotton-filled mattresses gradually disappeared, as did the cotton fluffers. The change in technology doomed the fluffers to the ant
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The Shanghai Five
Fatih Özatay, PhD
31 January 2013
As our ancestors have successfully explained, the rotten apple injures its neighbors The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), originally called the Shanghai Five, was established by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Later, Uzbekistan joined the SCO. I have to admit that I haven’t heard of it until today. Anyways. The GDP per capita of these countries in proportion to that of the US are as follows: Russia: 33.2 percent, China: 20.4 percent, Kazakhstan: 26.9 percent, Kyrgyzstan: 4.9 percent; Tajikistan: 4.0 percent, and Uzbekistan: 6.3 percent. The ratio for Turkey is 29.8 percent.
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Can the Turkish government be an ally of the PKK in Syria?
Nihat Ali Özcan, PhD
31 January 2013
Several reasons compel the Turkish government to renegotiate with convicted the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, Abdullah Öcalan. These are escalating PKK attacks, domestic politics under time pressure, seasonal conditions and political problems in its neighbor.
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Initial figures on 2013
Fatih Özatay, PhD
29 January 2013
The fact that no evident recovery was observed in the fourth quarter of 2012 does not endanger the expected 4 percent growth rate in 2013 Last week two important data, capacity utilization ratio and real sector confidence index figures for January were released. As you might remember, I stated earlier that industrial output growth in November being high did not necessarily imply a strong recovery in the fourth quarter of the year. Other indicators, capacity utilization ratio for December among these, did not validate such recovery. Besides, the change in original series rather than that in the generally-misleading seasonally adjusted series, put into question the argument on a possible recovery.
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3D printers will directly link Konya to global value chains
Güven Sak, PhD
29 January 2013
3D printing has brought us the opportunity of making Konya a province through which a global value chain passes. The hottest development in 2012 for me was that I touched a 3D printout for the first time. Last year I learned what a 3D printer looked like. And I have to admit that I am still having a hard time believing what I saw. It felt like a science fiction movie, yet it is not. The first 3D printing museum was opened in China on the 15th. Visitors can have their bodies scanned and have miniature 3D sculptures of themselves. Such is the world now. We are on the eve of a new era during which the meaning of production in the sense we know it will change radically. Globalization will deepen even further, and directly and deeply affect Turkey’s Konya, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş’ı, Diyarbakır
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Growth constraints and shopping lists
Fatih Özatay, PhD
26 January 2013
Certain items on Turkey’s “shopping list” can make sense only in combination with complementary factors. Average GDP per capita growth was higher in Turkey in the first decade of the 2000 than in the 1990s. Turkey therefore has made certain progress in the convergence with advanced economies in terms of GDP per capita. Nonetheless, this marks a limited improvement as some developing countries achieved much higher growth rates and a stronger convergence. Besides, Turkey’s GDP per capita is still 30 percent of that of the US, also proving that the growth performance is not sufficient.
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Why Amgen chose Singapore over Istanbul
Güven Sak, PhD
26 January 2013
Amgen is a U.S.-based multinational biotechnology company known for its clinical and commercial manufacturing of biotechnology-based medicines. The company started its Turkish operation in 2010. Last April it bought 95.6 percent of a rare research-oriented Turkish pharmaceutical company, Mustafa Nevzat, for $700 million.
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Are Turkey’s engineers Dilberts or Da Vincis?
Güven Sak, PhD
25 January 2013
To improve the sophistication in production, Turkey has to educate dynamic engineers. It has to increase the number of Da Vincis against that of Dilberts. Turkey needs more engineers. Turkey was a sleepy agricultural country before the 1980s. It has now become a dynamic, mid-tech industrial country. Now, we will either hop on the high-technology train or spend the next century in regret. High-technology requires more research and development (R&D). In the US, 53 percent of R&D staff overall have studied basic sciences and engineering. Turkey, too, needs more engineers from this perspective.
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The latest CBT decisions
Fatih Özatay, PhD
24 January 2013
The CB is determined to take stronger steps if the rise in credit growth rate continues and tends to turn permanent. The Central Bank (CB) Monetary Policy Committee convened last Tuesday and announced decisions after the meeting: the policy rate which has largely lost its meaning since 2011 was not changed. The upper and lower limit of the interest rate corridor was decreased by 25 basis points, while required reserve ratios were raised slightly for both lira and FX deposits.
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Jihadists in Syria and western targets in Turkey
Nihat Ali Özcan, PhD
24 January 2013
Many victims lost their lives in last week’s Jihadist attack in Algeria. Everyone, especially the citizens, governments and companies of Western countries situated in isolated regions with compromised security, should be alarmed by this terrorist attack.The history of radical armed movements in the Middle East does not start with the Arab Spring. However, the Arab Spring did provide fertile ground for these movements. Information at hand shows that it won’t be a surprise if terrorist attacks like the one in Algeria occur more frequently.France’s military operation against radical Islamists in Mali reflected an asymmetric struggle that is bound to continue into a new phase. Let’s not forget that the jihadists in Mali gained more power and capacity with the events in Libya, such as
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