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.     

Open trade and skilled and unskilled labor productivity in developing countries: A panel data analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of trade openness on the productivity of skilled and unskilled labor in a group of 36 developing countries using panel data and fixed effect approach. We have developed and utilized an empirical model that readily lends itself to testing the hypothesis posed. Our results support the hypothesis that trade openness has a positive and significant impact on labor productivity for both skilled and unskilled labor in the sample countries. We also observe that the beneficial effect of trade openness is relatively stronger for the skilled labor than the unskilled labor. We conclude that contrary to the claim made by Mayda and Rodrik (2001 Mayda, A. M. and Rodrik, D. 2001. “Why are some people (and countries) more protectionist than others? A cross country analysis”. Mimeo: Harvard University.  [Google Scholar]), skilled workers in developing countries may oppose protectionism. When adjusting for the purchasing power parity, the impact of trade openness on labor productivity, although positive and significant, is not as pronounced as it is for other definitions of openness.     

Ascending Combinatorial Auctions with Risk Averse Bidders

Ascending combinatorial auctions are being used in an increasing number of spectrum sales worldwide, as well as in other multi-item markets in procurement and logistics. Much research has focused on pricing and payment rules in such ascending auctions. However, recent game-theoretical research has shown that such auctions can even lead to inefficient perfect Bayesian equilibria with risk-neutral bidders. There is a fundamental free-rider problem without a simple solution, raising the question whether ascending combinatorial auctions can be expected to be efficient in the field. Risk aversion is arguably a significant driver of bidding behavior in high-stakes auctions. We analyze the impact of risk aversion on equilibrium bidding strategies and efficiency in a threshold problem with one global and several local bidders. Due to the underlying free-rider problem, the impact of risk-aversion on equilibrium bidding strategies of local bidders is not obvious. We characterize the necessary and sufficient conditions for the perfect Bayesian equilibria of the ascending auction mechanism to have the local bidders to drop at the reserve price. Interestingly, in spite of the free-riding opportunities of local bidders, risk-aversion reduces the scope of the non-bidding equilibrium. The results help explain the high efficiency of ascending combinatorial auctions observed in the lab.     

Vertical Intra-Industry Trade and Product Fragmentation in the Auto-Parts Industry

A distinctive feature of present globalization is the development of international production sharing activities, i.e. production fragmentation. The increased importance of fragmentation in world trade has created an interest among trade economists in explaining the determinants of intra-industry trade (IIT) in intermediate goods. In this study, the extent of IIT in Austria’s auto-parts trade is analyzed by decomposing Austria’s auto-parts trade into one-way trade, vertical IIT, and horizontal intra-industry trade IIT. Then, the development of vertical IIT in the auto-parts industry is examined as an indicator for international fragmentation of the production process between Austria and its 29 trading partners, and various country-specific factors suggested by the fragmentation literature are tested using panel econometrics as well as more recent data from 1996 to 2006. The results show that a substantial portion of IIT in the Austrian auto-parts industry is vertical IIT, and the econometric results mainly support the hypothesis drawn from the fragmentation theory. In particular, the findings show that the extent of Austria’s vertical IIT in auto-parts is positively correlated with average market size, differences in per capita GDP, and foreign direct investment, while it is negatively correlated with distance.     

A consumer-surplus standard in foreign acquisitions,foreign direct investment,and welfare

Review of World Economics - This study scrutinizes the ramifications of the strategic use of a consumer welfare argument in regulating foreign acquisitions and foreign market entry (i) on a...     

Resiliency in the E-mini futures market

We study how quickly liquidity is replenished on the order book in E-mini futures. The results show that participants who use patient methods, such as limit orders, are often fast to place new orders, while those using impatient market orders are slow to re-enter the market. These delays are a function of state constants, such as firm types, state conditions, such as whether the order is price improving, and time-varying covariates, such as the volume of trade during the gap. We also find support for the view that certain traders delay providing liquidity during active markets to avoid informed trading.