An analysis of decentralized collection and processing of end-of-life products

In this study, we analyze decentralized collection and processing operations for end-of-life products in durable goods industries. We consider a durable end-of-life product from which a particular part can be dismantled and remanufactured, and the remainder of the product can be further processed for part and/or material recovery. Both the quantity of end-of-life products available and the demand for remanufactured parts are price-sensitive. We develop models to determine the optimal acquisition price of the end-of-life products and the selling price of the remanufactured parts in centralized as well as remanufacturer- and collector-driven decentralized channels. We discuss how the decentralized channels can be coordinated to attain the end-of-life product collection rate that can be achieved in the centralized channel. In the presence of environmental regulations that require an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of durable goods to collect and process its end-of-life products, we identify when and why the OEM would prefer a remanufacturer- or a collector-driven channel, i.e., outsource the processing or the collection activity, respectively. From a practical perspective, we show that the OEM should prefer a collector-driven channel to increase the collection rate, when end-of-life products are homogenous. However, we also show that the OEM would prefer a remanufacturer-driven channel under certain conditions. We also examine how the OEM can increase the quantity of used products collected, when the collection rate in the preferred channel setting falls short of the collection rate mandated by the environmental regulation. When end-of-life products are heterogeneous, we observe that the collection rate for all quality groups can be positive in a remanufacturer-driven channel, whereas the collection rate for some quality groups may be zero. This indicates that the OEM must pay more attention to its outsourcing decision in this case, if the environmental regulation in effect specifies target collection rates for individual quality groups.     

State Dependence in Poverty: The Case of Turkey

Despite poverty alleviation efforts, almost a quarter of households live below the poverty line in Turkey. This article aims to examine the dynamics of poverty focusing on poverty persistence in Turkey, utilizing Income and Living Conditions panel data belonging to 2010–2013. A random effects dynamic panel probit model has been employed. In order to tackle the initial values problem Heckman’s reduced form approximation is utilized. Empirical results indicate that gender, educational attainment, employment type, and household structure have statistically significant impact on the probability of being poor. Besides, experiencing poverty has a positive impact on future poverty likelihood, signalling state dependence.     

Runs in an ordered sequence of random variables

Let be independent and identically distributed random variables with continuous distribution function. Denote by the corresponding order statistics. In the present paper, the concept of -neighbourhood runs, which is an extension of the usual run concept to the continuous case, is developed for the sequence of ordered random variables      

Breaking with Dogma: Unorthodox Consumption Patterns and Women's Labor Market Outcomes in Turkey

Using information about household consumption data from TURKSTAT's Household Surveys for 2007–13 as a sign of religious unorthodoxy, this study explores the effect of religion on women's labor force and educational participation in a Muslim-majority country, Turkey. A household is categorized as “unorthodox” if its members report that they consume goods that contradict conservative Sunni practices, such as alcohol. This information is then used in female labor force participation estimations. Results show that living in an unorthodox household has a positive and highly significant effect on the probability of married women's labor market participation. For single women, the estimations provide weaker evidence regarding the positive effect of unorthodoxy on the probability of participation in education and the labor force. The study concludes that protection of the rights to follow unorthodox practices in society may bear positive implications with regard to women's agency.     

The causality between FDI and sector-specific production in Turkey: evidence from threshold cointegration with regime shifts

This article considers bidirectional nonlinear cointegration relation between FDI and industrial output in Turkey. The data cover the monthly period 2005:1–2013:10 for the time series of total industrial production, 36 sub-industrial sectors’ production and FDI. Following nonlinear threshold cointegration and VECMs, the article yields that (i) total industrial production and nine sub-industrial productions have positive long-run impact on FDI with significant error corrections, (ii) six sub-industrial productions have short-term influence on FDI, (iii) FDI has long-run positive impulse on total industrial production and nine sub-industrial productions with some significant error corrections and (iv) FDI affects four sub-industrial productions in the short run as well as in the long run. The results of VECMs from (i) also reveal that the all short-term adjustment parameters are found significant and powerful in 10 typical regimes (Regime-1s) and in 5 extreme regimes (Regime-2s). Finally, the outcome of VECMs from (iii) yields that short-term adjustment parameters are found significant and powerful in two typical regimes and in four extreme regimes. Eventually, considering FDI’s positive impact in the short and long run, this article suggests that policymakers promote specifically the FDI inflows to the sectors of intermediate goods, manufacture of beverages, manufacture of rubber and plastic and manufacture of other nonmetallic mineral products.     

The life satisfaction of teachers at work place,research of structural equation modelling regarding general and organized cynicism

This research aims to determine both the predictive role and level of teachers’ life satisfaction, as well as general and organizational cynic perceptions in their workplace. The study sample was composed of 457 teachers who worked in the middle schools in the center and districts of Konya in 2016, who were randomly selected by group sampling. Analysis of the research data was conducted using the statistical program AMOS 18.0, according to structural equation modeling. In the research, loneliness in teachers’ professional lives was considered in two dimensions: as “emotional deprivation” and “social friendship.” According to the research findings, it is evident that organizational cynicism is the most important variable affecting teachers’ emotional deprivation and social companionship levels. The second most important variable affecting teachers' levels of emotional deprivation is general cynicism, while social companionship levels are more affected by life satisfaction. It is also seen that there is a negative relationship between the emotional deprivation and social friendship and life satisfaction variables. The results also demonstrate a slight but statistically significant relationship between the general cynicism and the social friendship levels of teachers.     

Confusopoly: competition and obfuscation in markets

This paper examines the effects of competition in experimental posted-offer markets where sellers can confuse buyers. I report two studies. In one, the sellers offering heterogeneous goods can obfuscate buyers by means of spurious product differentiation. In the other study, sellers offer identical goods and make their prices unnecessarily complex by having multi-part tariffs. I vary the level of competition by having treatments with two and three- sellers in both studies, and having an additional treatment with five-sellers in one study. The results show that average complexity created by a seller is not different for the treatments with two, three and five sellers. In addition, market prices are highest and buyer surplus is lowest when there are two sellers in a market.     

Financial development and economic growth nexus in the MENA countries: Bootstrap panel granger causality analysis

This paper investigates the direction of causality between financial development and economic growth in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. The panel causality testing approach, developed by Kónya (2006) [Kónya, L. (2006), exports and growth: Granger causality analysis on OECD countries with a panel data approach, Economic Modelling, 23, 978–992], based on the Seemingly Unrelated Regressions and Wald tests with the country specific bootstrap critical values, is applied to the panel of fifteen MENA countries for the period 1980–2007. In order to capture the different aspects of financial development, six different indicators are used. Empirical results show that there is no clear consensus on the direction of causality between financial development and economic growth for all measurements of financial development and it is also observed that the findings are country specific.     

Intercompany mobbing: the effects of company growth

Exploring the concept of mobbing, we have conducted a study of small and middle sized enterprises (commonly referred to as SMSE). In this study we observed corporate policies of repression and intimidation while taking into consideration the aim of these policies and their possible consequences. The ultimate purpose of this work is to shed light onto forthcoming academic studies of the same topic. Our focus has been the effects of the various presses, forms of harassment and market entry prevention carried out by companies that dominate the market against those companies entering the market and those already competing in the market. To determine these effects on 150 companies that conduct business in Turkey, we created a survey consisting of 15 categories. The results have been depicted with charts and graphs. The conclusion of the investigation has found that many of the attitudes which comprise of mobbing acts can be seen in the mutual behavior of the companies that work in the Turkish labor market. Although there are a number of reasons for the prevalence of the mobbing culture in Turkish business, it’s our belief that the Turkish labor market codes of conduct and regulations influence the perpetuation of ruthless behaviors between different companies.     

The relationship between personality,gender and departments: application of 16 personality factor questionnaire in the Antalya region of Turkey

This study evaluates relationship between personality, gender and departments of a random sample of 294 employees working in 5-star hotels in the Antalya Region of Turkey. Evaluation was conducted using Cattell’s 16 PF (Sixteen Personality Factor) questionnaire. T-test assessed the relationship between personality and gender and one-way Anova analysed personality and department relationship. Results indicate that in the relationship between personality and gender there were significant variance for the subscales dominance, rule-consciousness, sensitivity and self-reliance. Sixteen Personality Factor (16 PF) showed significant differences for warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, social boldness, apprehension and tension subscales, in terms of personality and department relationship.