The Zero Problems policy is alive and kicking
Güven Sak, PhD
02 June 2012
Until the day the economic awakening starts to keep pace with the political awakening, Turkey needs a zero problems framework. Some say that the zero problems policy died with the Arab Awakening. They are dead wrong. Think about the way Turkey approaches its neighborhood. Parameters may change, but as long as regional economic integration is important both for Turkey and other regional countries, the policy framework will still be needed. Only when an economic awakening accompanies the political awakening, and people form bonds independent of their governments, will the policy fade away.
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Indecisive Europe is causing Switzerland to lose its faith
Güven Sak, PhD
01 June 2012
The Swiss are disturbed by Europe’s efforts to deal with the crisis via liquidity injections. Go figure: Switzerland is becoming just like China! No, not because the country has degraded to the statism of the 1930s in all aspects of social life from health to the freedom of the press and expression. They also do not have a minister of health who would dare say, “If necessary, we will take children from their families and raise them ourselves as the state.” And the sad part is, no one says in response, “Take a look at the orphanages, first. They are full of good citizens and they are looking for new ones, right?” Meanwhile, Switzerland is considering imposing capital controls as the world is shaken by the risk of a new Eurozone crisis. Taking it one step beyond, they already have set up a t
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The dangers of filling the “leisure time”
Fatih Özatay, PhD
31 May 2012
Addressing the leisure time issue with the wrong perspective and devising policies accordingly can harm the quality of education in Turkey which is already low. The agenda on the “leisure time” of teachers can prove both constructive and destructive depending on the context of the debate. The constructive point of view was that I handled on Tuesday: a part of the summer holiday can be allocated for trainings tailored to improve the quality of teachers. On the other hand, it can be extremely harmful to assume that the leisure time of teachers especially during the academic year is “leisure” in the strict sense of the word and to develop policies accordingly. The short-cut evidence to this is the case with academics teaching at universities.
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Turning points in the PKK’s fortune
Nihat Ali Özcan, PhD
31 May 2012
With the fall of the Syrian government, the PKK would not only obtain new arms and logistics capabilities but would also find new recruits. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been active for four decades. Like other terrorist groups, the PKK has had to face serious and deadly crises over this time span. Despite these difficulties, it has succeeded against all adversities and has been improving its capacity.
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Teachers and leisure time
Fatih Özatay, PhD
29 May 2012
You need better trained teachers and academics so as to offer better education. So, the “leisure times” of these profession groups must be assessed with this perspective. Turkey’s sustainable growth rate, the potential growth rate in other words, varies between 4.5-5 percent. Many are not content with this rate as it is insufficient to catch up with high-income countries. Economic theory suggests that, ceteris paribus, higher the skills level of a country is, higher the potential growth rate of that country will be. Evidently, a better education system is the key to a more skilled labor force. I am not talking solely about primary, secondary and tertiary education. Pre-school education and life-long and in-house trainings are also important.
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Will the adjustment cost for the TCC go beyond 6 billion?
Güven Sak, PhD
29 May 2012
Turkey increases the public disclosure burden on small enterprises while the U.S. does the opposite. The lower the cost of adjustment to a law is, the more smoothly that law can be implemented. As the adjustment cost rises, so does the resistance to the law. I have been reading about the recent debates on the Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) from a cost-benefit perspective. Yes, the TCC is good, but how do its benefits compare with its cost? Which types of companies are to bear heavier burdens? Is the current climate conducive to adjustment?
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Completely out of control
Fatih Özatay, PhD
26 May 2012
“Just let it go and wait for the ECB to step in, monetize and pay their due debts." Spain’s prime minister Mariona Rajoy has called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to bring down the borrowing costs of certain European countries by purchasing their bonds. That is, he called the ECB for issuing currency to purchase their bonds.
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Why can’t Turks speak English yet?
Güven Sak, PhD
26 May 2012
Diplomats are good at making comparisons to the past, especially if they are posted to the same place multiple times. I was recently talking to a foreign diplomat in Ankara who was also here about two decades ago. He spoke about the progress Turkey has made since his first time here -- how Ankara looks more urbane now and how its people are more confident. “But there is one thing that has not changed” he added, at the end of his string of praise: “Turks still can’t speak English. There were very few who could back then and it seems their number hasn’t grown.” So the question looms: Why can’t we learn English? And by English I don’t mean speaking with a high degree of proficiency; this is not Henry Higgins’ tirade in My Fair Lady. I’m talking about plain communication in English. W
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What is the deal with the number 49?
Güven Sak, PhD
25 May 2012
Some companies in France are making keen efforts not to employ one more person to increase the number of employees to 50. According to a recent story in Bloomberg Businessweek, France has 2.4 times as many companies with 49 employees as with 50 employees. Some part of these makes keen efforts not to employ one more person to increase the number of employees to 50. Why? Evidently due to the structuring of a series of labor market regulations. According to the labor code, a company that has at least 50 employees has to create worker councils to which the company has to give an account of management issues. In France, the number 49 had a special meaning because of the labor code. Here is what I thought having read this story: Have you ever checked the distribution of Turkey’s companies by the
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Caution: Risk of material fatigue
Fatih Özatay, PhD
24 May 2012
I hope the extensive use of the policy tool (the material) does not cause a fatigue. So, how everything started? Before the global crisis, many countries already had achieved price stability and the rest were close to achieving it having ensured substantial drops in inflation. Then came the global financial crisis, albeit price stability. The world learned an obvious lesson: focusing solely on the price stability does not solve all problems.
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