Inequalities In Turkey Research Articles

Modeling Educational Inequalities: Class, Academic Achievement, and Regional Differences in Turkey

As it has been realized that education is a key to a long-term economic growth and to reducing social and economic disadvantages, educational inequality and its reflections in the geography have become some of the major issues in many countries. Turkey is in many ways a good example to analyze the relations between class, education, and regional inequalities where education is strongly a class-related issue and there has also been a strong dimension of “geography” as far as the educational provision and performance are considered. The purpose of the article is to contribute to two debates on the relation of education and inequality in Turkey. One is a specific and practical way of understanding about the effect of socioeconomic backgrounds of the students on their educational achievement. The other is an understanding on causal relations based on socioeconomic variables and geographical variations and how these lead to or indeed are partly caused by regional inequalities in Turkey. Using the datasets of PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) database, the datasets of National University Entrance Examination and Census, the article finds that for Turkish students where (the region and the place of residence) and with whom (socioeconomic qualifications of parents) they live are the powerful indicators of academic achievement.

Reading Educational Inequalities in Turkey: Statistics and Geographic Distributions

It has now been widely accepted that a university degree is one of the prerequisites of achieving a high social and economic status. In most of the developed countries, a highly educated young generation is considered a path to a long term economic growth and a key factor in the face of a knowledge-based society. In both developed and developing countries, however, academic achievement and the provision of educational services are not distributed equally between different classes, social groups and even different geographies. Turkey is, in many ways, a good example to analyze educational inequalities where education is strongly a class related issue and there has also been a strong dimension of geography as far as the educational provision and performance are considered. The aim of this study is to analyze educational inequalities in Turkey based on school-based differences and district-level geographic distributions. In the article, statistical and spatial methods and the datasets of National University Entrance Examination (LYS), PISA, and Ministry of National Education are used. The main finding of the article is that university graduation as the main indicator of socio-economic status in Turkey is for the most part depends on regional and school-based inequalities. Inequality of opportunity in education makes socio-economic positions distinct and stable and this makes it difficult for the disadvantaged groups, in terms of the geography that they live in and the school types, to break the vicious circle in the long-term. The findings of the article, therefore, indicate how important to build long-term educational policies based on equality of opportunity.

Social Policy and Different Dimensions of Inequality in Turkey: A Historical Overview

In Turkey, as in most other societies without mature welfare states, social policy has acquired a novel significance in the context of the late twentieth century economic globalization and the social policy environment has gone through a major transformation especially under the AKP government, which has been in power since 2002. This article presents a discussion of this transformation and explores the relationship between social policy and different dimensions of inequality in contemporary Turkey. It is argued that the emerging social policy regime, although in some ways more inclusive than the former one, is laden with significant inequalities of class and gender, which are shaped by the flexible employment patterns associated with a market-oriented economic strategy and the culturally conservative outlook of the AKP government.

Income Distribution in Turkey during the Global Financial Crisis

The aim of this study is to examine mechanism responsible for the behavior of the income and earning inequality in Turkey during the global financial crisis based on data from the 2006 to 2014 Income and Living Conditions Survey. Gini decomposition by income source is employed in order to provide an analysis of the contribution of the various income sources to the evolution of income inequality and to assess the impact of a marginal percentage change in the income from a particular source on income inequality. For examining the contributions of specific variables (education, position in occupation, economic sector) to the interpretation of labor earnings inequality in terms of their gross and marginal contribution, we use static decomposition of Theil T index.

A PRACTICAL SOLUTION FOR A DEVELOPING COUNTRY RELATED TO INCOME INEQUALITY: SUPPORTING WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT

This study examines the effect of the rate of women’s employment on income distribution in Turkey between 2004 and 2015. The overall income generated by everyone, without exception, in a society forms the gross domestic product of that country. The societies with lower rates of women in employment tend to record relatively lower levels of gross domestic product compared to those with greater number of women in employment . Given that women are employed in all kinds of sectors ranging from agriculture to services today, it is evident that income distribution is relatively more equal in societies with greater number of women in employment. On the assumption that the half of the population of the world, accordingly of Turkey just as each country in the world, is female; it has been observed that the income inequality in Turkey has decreased with the increasing employment of women. In 2004-2015 periods, 1% increase in FER in Turkey is expected to create a 2.79% decrease in GINI.

Cash vs. Net Working Capital as Strategic Tools for the Long-term Relation between Bank Credits and Liquidity: Inequalities in Turkey

Cash and net working capital are among corporate liquidity indicators which are generally compared with the short-term bank credits. The study reveals both the short and the long-term bank credits and their reflections on the cash, working capital and the short-term liabilities of the businesses in the long-run. The bank credits as a financing resource of the real sector (nonfinancial) businesses in Turkey with their effects on cash and net working capital are assessed in order to make comparisons on the total data of the businesses selected from all of the sectors for the case of Turkey in the long-run (1996-2014) in the study. The study endorses the strategic relation between bank credit usage and liquidity levels of the businesses so as to improve timely accessibility and creditability. In the findings, we confirm that cash-cash equivalents and net working capital have impacts on the level of bank credits in the long-term. Finally, the study endorses the strategic relation of bank credit and liquidity by inequalities.

Educational Attainment and Wage Inequality in Turkey

AbstractThis paper analyses the relationship between wage distribution and educational attainment of the workforce. Wage inequality in Turkey decreased over 2002–10; a period over which it also saw an increase in the supply of educated workers. Our findings suggest that decreasing inequality in the bottom half of the distribution was largely due to decreasing returns to education and experience; whereas the moderate decline in inequality in the upper tail of the wage distribution is explained by a fall in returns to the ‘routine’ occupational tasks. The effect of changes in the composition of workers was found to be moderate.

AFYONKARAHİSAR’DA BAZI MESLEK GRUPLARININ CİNSİYETE DUYARLI BÜTÇELEME ALGISI

In this study, there are seven different occupational groups that are nurses, teachers, employees of the revenue office, theology, Muslim Cleric, Teaching Assistant-Research Assistant, faculty members and students. It was examined that how their perspective on gender equality and their gender- sensitive budgeting perception. In this study how participants looked at gender equality in Turkey and if there is gender inequality in Turkey which mechanism should be use to prevent it. Besides, It was studied to determine about how the central government budget should be used to constitute for gender equality. In the study, it was observed that the perception of serious inequalities between women and men in Turkey. For fixing this perception, it is necessary to do studies primarily starting from family at all parts of society in order to achieve the objectives of this study. The achievement of these studies depend largely on public expenditures and public revenues. The study, while made in Afyonkarahisar, is important because it directs the practises occured in Turkey.

Can Market Potential Explain Regional Disparities in Developing Countries? Evidence from Turkey

Regional disparity is one of the important characteristics of the Turkish economy. This study examines the impact of market potential on the regional differences in Turkey by investigating wages in the manufacturing industry for 1987 and 2000. Evidence suggests that market potential is an important determinant of inequality in Turkey. In addition, public–private decomposition reshapes the dispersion of wages supportive of rising heterogeneity in the private manufacturing industry. This increases the explanatory power of market potential, which is observed to be high in western Turkey and diminishes toward eastern Turkey. Our findings highlight that during the postliberalization era of the 1980s, Turkey's regional inequality concern transformed into a structural problem which can be explained by provincial market potential. Moreover, our results underline that the modern geography framework, which has been tested for developed economies, is able to elucidate the regional differences in a developing country suffering from persistent imbalances.

The geography of financial intermediation in Turkey: 1988–2013

This study aims to provide an analysis of the evolution of regional financial inequalities in Turkey over the 1988–2013 period. The theoretical premise of the study is the Keynesian view that the nature and the level of development of the banking system and the geography of financial intermediation are imperative to the understanding of regional economic disparities. Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis tools used in the analysis indicate the presence of a statistically significant non-random spatial pattern at the provincial NUTS 3 level for the 2006–2013 period. LISA cluster maps reveal that the southeastern provinces of the country constitute a hot spot of credit activity in this period. Moreover, the evolution of financial inequality indices suggests that this clustering has led to a reduction in regional financial disparities across the country over the period in question. The results of econometric conditional convergence analysis suggest regional beta-convergence in terms of Gross Value Added per Capita but no statistically significant link between beta-convergence and the reduction in financial disparities.

Exploring Classroom Inequalities in a Mathematics Class through a Capabilities-Based Social Justice Framework

This paper aims to examine classroom justice through a capabilities-focused praxis. The research employs a case study design to explore inequalities in a classroom environment in Turkey. Data are drawn from indepth individual interviews with six teachers working at the secondary level of primary school and from their classroom observations for one academic term. We monitored teacher-student and student-student interactions, and strategies for coping with inequalities and conversion factors (such as training, teacher behaviour, skills, power relations) that affect teaching and learning processes. We then looked into the conditions that limit student capability to participate in class, do well on exams and benefit from learning. The study lists the conditions of inequality and maps out a new capabilities direction to examine classroom inequalities in Turkey. These capabilities can be listed as: capability to access (appropriate) learning materials; capability to access the teacher; capability to have a democratic classroom environment; and capability to access appropriate teaching and pedagogy for different learning styles and needs.

Income inequality and FDI: evidence with Turkish data

ABSTRACTThis article explores how foreign direct investment (FDI) and other determinants impact income inequality in Turkey in the short- and long-run. We apply the nonlinear auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) modelling approach, which is suitable for small samples. The data for the study cover the years from 1970 to 2008. The empirical results indicate the existence of a co-integration relationship among the variables with asymmetric adjustment of the income distribution in the short- and long-run. The negative impact of FDI on the Gini coefficient, decreasing income inequality, is statistically significant in the short- and long-run, though with a quantitatively small impact in both cases. In the short run, GDP growth increases inequality initially, an effect that is reversed in the next period, increases in domestic gross capital formation decreases inequality, and increases in the literacy rate have very minor adverse effects on income equality. However, in the long run these variables have no statistically significant effects on the Gini coefficient. A reduction in the population growth rate reduces inequality in the short run but has no effect in the long run, whereas an increase in the rate reduces inequality in the long run but has no effect in the short run.

REGIONAL INEQUALITIES IN TURKEY: POST 2001 ERA

This paper examines the path of the regional inequalities in Turkey for the post 2001 period. After the financial turmoil and the sharp downturn in the economy in 2001, Turkey managed to sustain 3.6 % real per capita GDP growth between 2002 and 2014. Even the increase in the GDP is remarkable the way that the growth is distrib- uted at the regional scale is questionable. Originating from the concern on the ability of Turkish regions to equally benefit from the economic growth, regional inequalities are evaluated via regional wage income differences at NUTS II disaggregation for the 2003-2008 period. Even initial set of analysis point out a fall in the regional wage income gaps, a careful interpretation indicate the persistence of the heterogeneous pattern coming from the pre-2001 period. Analysis covering all industries indicates that, out of the 26 sub-regions, 5 of the NUTS II regions in the eastern Turkey move to a group of regions with lower wage income during the 2003-2008 period. Meanwhile neither the high wage region clusters nor the outlier regions acting as geographic transitions do realize a significant movement within the distribution. Results are much or less consistent for manufacturing production as well. In general findings underline a period of ongoing polarization in the wage income at NUTS II level during the post 2001 period in Turkey. Additionally results also highlight the non-randomness of this polarization even at NUTS II disaggregation which once more points out that spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity works together in Turkey.

Wage inequality in Turkey, 2002–10

AbstractThis paper studies the evolution of wage inequality in Turkey using household labour force survey data from 2002 to 2010. Between 2002 and 2004, the relative supply of more‐educated workers to less‐educated workers remained constant while their relative wages decreased in favour of less‐educated workers. However, between 2004 and 2010, the relative supply of more‐educated workers to less‐educated workers rose, while their relative wages remained constant or kept increasing in favour of more‐educated workers. This suggests factors other than those implied by a simple supply‐demand model are involved, such as skill‐biased technical change or minimum wage variations. The decomposition of wage inequality reveals that the price (wage) effect dominates the composition effect particularly in the first period. Our results show that the real minimum wage hike in 2004 corresponds to a major institutional change, which proved to be welfare‐increasing in terms of wage inequality. The upper‐tail (90/50) wage inequality decreased between 2002 and 2004 and stayed constant thereafter, whereas the lower‐tail (50/10) wage inequality decreased throughout the period. Our findings thus provide evidence supporting the institutional argument for explaining wage inequality.

Wage Inequality and Wage Mobility in Turkey

This paper investigates wage inequality and wage mobility in Turkey using the Surveys on Income and Living Conditions (SILC). This is the first paper that explores wage mobility for Turkey. It differs from the existing literature by providing analyses of wage inequality and wage mobility over various socioeconomic groups such as gender, age, education and sector of economic activity. We first present an overview of the evolution of wages and wage inequality over the period 2005-2011. Next, we compute several measures of wage mobility and explore the link between wage inequality and wage mobility. Further, we compute the transition matrices which show movements of individuals across the wage distribution from one period to another and investigate the determinants of transition probabilities using a multinomial logit model. The results show that overall the real wages increased over the study period and wage inequality exhibits a slight increase. Wage inequality is one of the highest among the European Union (EU) countries. The wage mobility in Turkey is lower than what is observed in the European Union countries although it increases as time horizon expands. Wage mobility has an equalizing impact on the wage distribution, however; this impact is not substantial enough to overcome the high and persistent wage inequality in Turkey.

Approaching Socioeconomic Inequalities in Turkey by Using Self Assessed Health

Approaching Socioeconomic Inequalities in Turkey by Using Self Assessed Health

Military Spending and Income Inequality:Evidence on Cointegration and Causality for Turkey,1963–2007

This paper examines the relationship between defence spending and income inequality in Turkey for the period of 1963–2007. Using the Theil Index of pay inequality as a proxy of overall income distribution, this study overcomes the problem of lack of time series data. Utilizing basic cointegration and causality tests, the paper aims to add to the literature by providing evidence that defence spending has an impact on income inequality for the case of Turkey.

Recent Trends in Factor Contributions to Household Income Inequality in Turkey

Making use of official survey data, we examine the evolution of household income inequality in Turkey during the past fifteen years. We observe the contributions to inequality of the main components of household income, namely labor market earnings, non-wage income, and imputed rents. In an effort to obtain clues regarding the gender related socio-economic developments of the period, we also distinguish between the earnings of male and female household members. We find that the earnings inequality among women continues to be higher than among men, and that the gender earnings gap is smaller among wage and salary workers than among the self-employed. Household-level analysis reveals that female earnings have a dis-equalizing impact on household inequality while non-labor income no longer contributes to inequality as much as it did in the 1990s, possibly due to the substantial decline in the interest rates. The change in the sign of the correlation between non-labor income and labor market earnings between 1994 and 2008 suggests that formal and informal redistributive policies of the governments may have been the main factor behind the considerable decline in household income inequality during this period.

Female education inequality in Turkey: factors affecting girls' schooling decisions

Education remains to be an important determinant of economic and social opportunities for individuals. However, within group inequalities for educational elements are not studied broadly. This paper seeks to inspect the reasons of higher inequality among females in terms of schooling distribution in Turkey. Our results suggest that occupation of the household head, size and the composition of the family, and education of the parents have a significant impact on the schooling decision for girls. The paper contributes to the literature in a twofold manner. First, it provides empirical evidence of schooling distribution in Turkey. Second, it investigates the factors that disproportionately affect schooling decisions for girls.

Examination Of Inequality In Life Span By Using Gini Coefficient In Turkish Population For The Period 1990-2008

Objective: The aim of this study is to show that the Gini coefficient used in economics, particularly in exposing inequality in income levels can also be used in the field of health, especially for measuring inequality specific to any issue of concern. Based on life tables, this study uses the Gini coefficient in measuring the extent of inequality in years lived and shows the level of these inequalities in Turkey for the period 1990-2008. Material and Methods: Lorenz Curves were constructed by using data from life tables pertaining to years 1990, 2000, 2006 and 2008 as given by WHO database, Gini coefficients were calculated in measuring variability in length of life expectancies in general, for the male and female population and then used in examining reducing inequality over time. Results: Taking 1990 as the base year, life expectancy at birth has increased by 9.3 years by 2008 and inequality has decreased from 0.188 to 0.114 (by 39%) in the same period. Conclusion: In addition to the target of increasing life expectancy, the assessment of success in ensuring all individuals live up to average life expectancy should be conducted by using this measure of inequality.