Izak Atiyas

Financial reform : theory and experience

1. Introduction: motivation for the study Gerard Caprio Jr Part I. Reforming Finance: Approaches and Importance: 2. Finance, public policy and growth Mark Gertler and Andrew Rose 3. Banking on financial reform? Gerard Caprio Jr 4. Credit where it is due? Fabio Schiantarelli, Izak Atiyas, Gerard Caprio Jr, John Harris, and Andrew Weiss Part II. The Reform Experiences: 5. An overview of financial reform episodes Izak Atiyas, Gerard Caprio Jr., and James Hanson 6. The impact of financial reform: the Turkish experience Izak Atiyas and Hasan Ersel 7. Financial policy reform in New Zealand Dimitri Margaritis, Dean Hyslop and David Rae 8. Koreas financial reform since the early 1980s Sang-Woo Nam 9. An assessment of financial reform in Indonesia, 1983-90 John Chant and Mari Pangestu 10. Financial reform in Malaysia Zainal Aznam Yusof, Awang Adek Hussin, Ismail Alowi, Lim Chee Sing, and Sukhdave Sing Part III. Liberalizing the Capital Account and Domestic Financial Reform: 11. An open capital account James Hanson 12. Financial liberalization and the capital account: Chile, 1974-84 Salvador Valdes-Prieto 13. Policy issues in reforming finance: lessons and strategies Gerard Caprio Jr, Izak Atiyas and James A. Hanson.

Reforming Turkish Energy Markets

Turkey has been reforming its energy markets since the 1980s, culminating in two major bills in the early 2000s. The country has restructured electricity and natural gas markets, establishing an independent regulatory agency (EMRA) and passed legislation on renewable and nuclear energy. With these regulatory reforms, Turkey, as a candidate country for accession to the European Union (EU), has aimed to direct the energy markets to a more competitive environment in parallel with EU energy directives. This book contains an analysis of regulatory reforms in Turkish energy markets (electricity, natural gas, renewable and nuclear energy), the impact of these reforms on countrys energy portfolio and role in global energy trade, especially between the EU, the Caspian, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Finally, the book concludes with recommendations for Turkish energy policy. The authors are expert scholars who have written extensively on Turkish regulatory reform and energy economics and who have broad knowledge of global energy market dynamics. The book will be a unique guide for those concerned with the different areas of the Turkish economy and international audiences interested in energy markets of Turkey and surrounding regions, making the book of interest to not only researchers in academia but also industry practitioners, regulators and policy makers as well.

Regulatory diffusion in Turkey: a cross-sectoral assessment

This chapter examines the diffusion and actual operation of regulatory reforms since the 1990s in Turkey, focusing on national regulatory agencies (NRAs) in various sectors. It takes a step further from the mere initiation of regulatory reforms along with de jure institutional design of the NRAs and explores the actual processes through which NRAs function. It, then, finds out a considerable discrepancy between de jure design and de facto operation of the NRAs in terms of independence, accountability, and capacity to enforce; the extent of such discrepancy varies across sectors. The chapter specifically investigates the Competition Authority and NRAs in banking, telecommunications, energy, sugar, tobacco, and alcohol markets. It suggests that the operation of NRAs in practice may create new forms of rents, giving rise to significant distributive consequences.

FIRM-LEVEL DATA IN THE MENA REGION: RESEARCH QUESTIONS, DATA REQUIREMENTS AND POSSIBILITIES

This paper presents an overview of research that uses firm-level data. The paper organizes the various areas of inquiry where firm-level data are used under two broad headings. The first is the analysis of productivity, its evolution and determinants, including the relation between productivity, trade, and trade policy. The second general area relates to enterprise financial behavior, patterns of external finance across firms, and the existence and severity of financial constraints faced by different types of firms, followed by their impact on investment behavior. The paper also points out that there is an emerging literature that examines the relation between financial constraints and productivity. The paper provides some thoughts on research questions that would be fruitful for researchers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to address, the sort of data that can be used to address them and to document availability of firm-level data in the MENA Region.

Economic institutions and institutional change in Turkey during the neoliberal era

In the last three decades, the Turkish economy has become much more open and market-oriented. This paper provides an account of the changes in the underlying economic institutions that have accompanied this transformation. In particular, it assesses whether or not new economic institutions have emerged that constrain the discretionary powers of the executive in the area of economic policy and whether institutional change has resulted in a more rule-based and transparent policy framework. The story that broadly emerges is that the first two decades of the neoliberal era were predominantly a period of increased discretion at the expense of rules. By contrast, after the crisis of 2000-2001 one witnesses a substantial delegation of decision-making power to relatively independent agencies, and the establishment of rules that constrain the discretion of the executive. But this transformation is not uniform across sectors, and there are divergences between the de jure rules and their de facto implementation. Moreover, there are also examples that do not fit the general trend, especially in the case of the construction industry. Finally, recent signs suggest that the government may be having second thoughts about the “excessive” independence of regulatory and policy making bodies.

Regulation and Competition in the Turkish Telecommunications Industry

This chapter provides an overview of the state of liberalization, competition and regulation of major segments of the telecommunications industry in Turkey. It shows that the competitive stance of the regulatory authority and the development of actual competition has been uneven across segments. Specifically, the degree of competition has been higher in the mobile segment relative to fixed telephony or broadband. The chapter also discusses the new Electronic Communications Law and argues that although not perfect, it provides a coherent basis on which the regulatory authority can pursue competitive objectives in a more even manner. However, the actual development of competition will depend a lot on how the law and the ensuing secondary legislation are actually implemented.

Structural Change and Industrial Policy in Turkey

ABSTRACT We present evidence on structural change in Turkey and provide an overview of the evolution of industrial policy in the past three decades Turkey has experienced substantial growth in labor productivity in the past decade. About two-thirds of the increase in aggregate labor productivity arises from reallocation of employment from low- to high-productivity sectors and one-third from productivity increases within sectors. Decomposition of productivity growth using microdata also reveals an important contribution from reallocation. We also document substantial change in the composition of exports. We argue that structural change was not a direct result of selective industrial policy simply because the incentive system displayed little sectoral selectivity during the period when major structural change took place.

Economics of Collective Refusals to Supply

This paper examines situations where vertically integrated firms refuse to supply an input to an independent competitor in the downstream market. The treatment of such cases by competition or regulatory authorities is often based on the assumption that such outcomes can only arise if there is collusion in the upstream markets. We argue that this is not always the case. In particular, we argue that proper antitrust or regulatory assessment of such cases must take into account the nature of competition, whether sales contracts are observable, the degree of contractual flexibility that is permitted, the substitutability of downstream products, and even the number of potential competitors in the downstream market.

Alternative Energy Options for Turkey

Turkey, like many other countries, has been promoting renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency programs, but the country had a later start than most to initiate a legal and regulatory framework and to develop targeted support programs. A definition of renewables was introduced via an amendment of the electricity law in 2003 but the Renewables Law was not passed until 2005. Significant new wind capacity was added between 2009 and 2011. As of the end of 2011, more than 1,600 MW of installed wind capacity was reported.

Policy Recommendations for Turkish Energy Future

Turkey has been growing fairly rapidly since the 1980s; energy demand has increased accordingly, albeit at slower rates than in emerging economies such as China thanks to Turkey’s lower energy intensity. Turkey does not have significant production of oil and gas; and most of domestic coal production is lignite, which has lower heat value. As such, the country’s dependence on imported energy has increased over the years from just crude oil and oil products to natural gas since 1986 and coal more recently. As with all import-dependent countries, energy security has been a primary driver of Turkish energy strategies. But, energy security seems to have gained a renewed importance with the price of oil seemingly having reached a higher plateau since 2003–2004.