Yavuz Yaşar

Gender, Development, and Neoliberalism: HIV/ AIDS in Cambodia

Thanks to the anti-HIV/AIDS measures of international and non-governmental organizations, Cambodia has been considered a successful case in preventing the transmission of the virus. Declaration of such a victory for the Cambodian case is premature, however, given that HIV prevalence continues to rise among women and, according to Cambodian health officials, another wave of epidemic could occur soon. This study discusses how the implementation of neoliberal economic policies without counterbalancing social policy measures undermines the sustainability and effectiveness of such short-term measures by creating a risky environment for the epidemic. Trade liberalization policies have exacerbated poverty, mobility, and gender inequality, making women more susceptible and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. JEL classification: I18, F13, O19

Moving Beyond Culturalism and Formalism: Islam, Women, and Political Unrest in the Middle East

ABSTRACT Scenes of political unrest throughout the Middle East are often coupled with media reports and public debates in the United States that have a recurring theme: the relationship between women and Islam. After discussing the culturalist accounts that portray women as being in grave danger from Islam and in need of Western protection and supervision, this contribution examines an emerging trend in political science developed under the influence of the formalism of neoclassical economics. The study argues that despite ostensibly universal assumptions about human behavior and alleged objectivity, the theoretical foundations of neoclassical economics and its methodological formalism fall short in providing an alternative to culturalism, and, instead, reinforce the misperceptions and misunderstandings about the region.

Is inequality deadly and for whom? A Bayesian Model Averaging analysis

Abstract The persistent correlations between income and mortality, and inequality and mortality in the US are well established. It has been demonstrated with various empirical models at different levels of analysis. However, there is no consensus on the relevant confounding factors or even the functional specification of the income–inequality–mortality relationship across the literature. We interpret this as significant model uncertainty when it comes to the correct specification of the implied econometric model and provide a systematic approach to address it. Using BMA, we conduct a large-scale analysis considering millions of models to determine a model-averaged inequality effect explaining cross-sectional variations in mortality at the county level. The results also suggest a best set of confounding factors and emphasize the importance of controlling for unobserved State-specific factors. Furthermore, we uncover a robust nonlinear income–inequality–mortality relationship that challenges typical assumptions in the literature.

The crisis in the Turkish pension system: a post Keynesian perspective

The Turkish pension system began experiencing some structural and fiscal difficulties in the mid-1990s: increasing dependency ratio (e.g., number of beneficiaries per active contributors) and budget transfers to close the deficit in the system. These trends resulted in a crisis in the system, and it thus underwent a major transformation as reforms moved the traditional pay-as-you-go (PAYG) scheme significantly toward privatization and personal responsibility for assuming risk. These changes reflect the interests of business (e.g., İTO, 1999; TİSK, 1995; TÖSİAD, 1997, 1999, 2004) and international financial institutions (e.g., Government of Turkey, 2004; ILO, 1995; World Bank, 1994). This article establishes the overlooked underlying causes of the crisis by analyzing the Turkish pension data from a post Keynesian macroeconomic perspective. It argues that the problems of the Turkish pension system do not lie in the design of the traditional system (i.e., PAYG) but in the changes that have taken place in industrial relations (i.e., increasing unemployment, informal employment, and low wages) and social policy (i.e., narrowing the base and extent of social protection and financing health care and education via market mechanisms) in line with neoliberal policies pursued since the 1980s.

Competition among Health Plans and Women's Use of Preventive Care: A Multilevel Analysis

Preventive health care services are increasingly considered important, not only for their lifesaving aspects but for their cost-effectiveness, which many assume would prevail in a competitive health care market. This view was supported by empirical evidence until the mid-1990s, but since then the nature of competition among health plans and the utilization of preventive care have constantly been changing. Research has yet to provide a clear answer on how these changes are affecting competition and, in turn, how competition among health plans affects the utilization of preventive care. These primary research questions are addressed in this study through the use of insurance claims data in a multilevel model, not previously used in the study of preventive care. The results of multilevel logistic regression show that the greater the number of insured people enrolled in HMOs, the greater is the likelihood of receiving mammograms and Pap smears. However, if HMOs as a group are increasingly exercising their market power, given the degree of competition among them, the likelihood of receiving both types of preventive care in the market is reduced.

The health insurance market, labor unions, and utilization of cancer screening

Abstract The present study examines the effect of labor market characteristics, especially labor unions, on the use of two representative cancer screening services, namely the mammogram and the Pap smear, given the level of competition in the health insurance market. The role of labor unions is illustrated by means of estimated probabilities based on regression results that consider, for the first time, both health insurance and labor market variables in the same model by employing a multilevel analysis, a technique not previously used in prevention studies. The results suggest that competition among health insurance plans may actually reduce the use of preventive care whereas union membership may mitigate such negative impacts.

Teaching Macroeconomics by Bringing Marx into the Classroom

The aggregate demand and supply graph is a staple in undergraduate macroeconomics courses. The foundations of this model and questions it addresses are often different from radical economics. The current article develops an alternative to the aggregate demand and supply framework. In the alternative framework, students are quickly introduced to certain aspects of Marx’s economic theory with the aid of a simple graphical tool.

Revisiting Inequality as a Determinant of Mortality: A Bayesian Model Averaging Approach

The persistent correlations between income and mortality, and inequality and mortality in the US is well established. It has been demonstrated with various empirical models at different levels of analysis. However, there is no consensus on the relevant confounding factors or even the functional specification of the income-inequality-health relationship across the literature. We interpret this as significant model uncertainty when it comes to the correct specification of the implied econometric model and provide a systematic approach to address it. Using BMA, we conduct a meta-analysis to determine the best model for explaining cross-sectional variations in mortality at the county level. The results provide a best set of confounding factors and emphasize the importance of controlling for unobserved State-specific factors. Furthermore, we uncover a robust nonlinear income-inequality-mortality relationship that challenges typical assumptions in the literature.

Krugman Meets Marx and Keynes at the Baby-Sitting Co-op

Paul Krugman tells the story of the Capitol Hill baby-sitting co-op as a means of introducing readers to the economics of recessions. We take the story from where Krugman stops and develop it by presenting different aspects of a monetary economy with the help of a graphical analysis. This is done with the introduction of history of economic thought to the curriculum by visiting monetary theories of Karl Marx’s Capital (1867) and John Maynard Keynes’s A Treatise on Money (1930). The benefit of using these two sources is twofold. First, it is possible to find a common theory in both Marx and Keynes’s writings to explain the baby-sitting co-op story. Second, it is possible to move beyond the story and introduce other aspects of a monetary economy such as endogenoity of money, industrial and financial circulation of money, etc. In addition, a graphical framework is developed as teaching aid.