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Purpose – Two major earthquakes which struck Northwestern Turkey in 1999 exposed rampant corruption involving construction and zoning code violations. The government’s relief efforts were tainted by corruption as well, and exhibited a great deal of incompetence. How voters responded to these in the next election held in 2002 is investigated. The fact that different group of parties were responsible for the construction of the shoddy buildings, and for the corruption and mismanagement related to relief, provided us with a unique opportunity to determine whether and how the electorate punished the culprits for each of these. The purpose of this paper is to shed light also on the new party system which emerged in Turkey after 2002. Design/methodology/approach – Vote equations are estimated for the seven major political parties. These are fitted to cross-provincial data individually, using ordinary least squares and robust regression methods, and as a system, using seemingly unrelated regressions procedures. The same picture emerges from each of these methods. Findings – Not just those ruling at the time of the earthquakes, but also other parties which were in power when the substandard buildings, were built were held accountable by the electorate. Furthermore, the Turkish voters appear to have allocated the blame rationally, taking into consideration the division of labor in the central government, and the relative influences the parties had on local administrations. Reaction of the voters to government incompetence and corruption was one of the factors which resulted in the emergence of a new party system. In 2002, the AKP, established only a year before, captured almost all of the far-right Islamist, about half of the far-right nationalist, and more than half of the center-right votes in 2002. Originality/value – Corruption usually makes little difference in the fortunes of politicians. Some recent studies suggest that it takes more than just exposure of corruption to get the voters to react. Politicians pay a significant price only when the corruption touches all political parties across the board, is not accompanied by good governance, and competent non-corrupt alternatives are available. The results provide support for this assertion from the natural experiment that has taken place in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to investigate the job satisfaction in relation to managerial attitudes towards employees and firm size using the linked employer-employee survey results in Britain. Design/methodology/approach -- The authors first investigate the management-employee relationships and the firm size using maximum likelihood probit estimation. Next various measures of job satisfaction are related to the management-employee relations via maximum likelihood ordered probit estimates. Four measures of job satisfaction that have not been used often are considered. They are satisfaction with influence over job; satisfaction with amount of pay; satisfaction with sense of achievement and satisfaction with respect from supervisors. Findings -- Main findings indicate that management-employee relationships are less satisfactory in the large firms than in the small firms. Job satisfaction levels are lower in large firms. Less satisfactory management-employee relationships in the large firms may be a major source of the observed lower level of job satisfaction in them. Practical implications -- These results have important policy implications from the point of view of the firm management while achieving the aims of their organizations in particular in the large firms in the area of management-employee relationships. Improving the management-employee relations in large firms will increase employee satisfaction in many respects as well as increase productivity and reduce turnover. Originality/value -- The nature of the management-employee relations with firm size and job satisfaction has not been investigated before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study is concerned with the separate output effects of female and male education, as well as output effects of the educational gender gap. Several recent empirical studies have examined the gender effects of education on economic growth or on output level using the much exploited, familiar cross-country data. This paper aims to undertake a similar study of the gender effects of education on economic growth using a panel data across the provinces of Turkey for the period 1975-2000. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical basis of the estimating equations is the neoclassical growth model augmented to include separate female and male education capital and health capital variables. The methodology the authors use includes robust regression on pooled panel data controlling for regional and time effects. The results are found to be robust to a number of sensitivity analyses, such as elimination of outlier observations, controls for simultaneity and measurement errors, controls for omitted variables by including regional dummy variables, steady-state versus growth equations and different samples of developed and less-developed provinces of Turkey. Findings – The main findings indicate that female education positively and significantly affects the steady-state level of labor productivity, while the effect of male education is in general either positive or insignificant. Separate examination of the effect of educational gender gap was to reduce output. Originality/value – As evident in the literature, there is controversy surrounding the gender effects of education on growth. This paper provides new evidence on this issue from the perspective of a single country rather than a cross-country viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This chapter aims to provide the recent developments on the supplementary education system in Turkey. The national examinations for advancing to higher levels of schooling are believed to fuel the demand for Supplementary Education Centers (SECs). Further, we aim to understand the distribution of the SECs and of the secondary schools across the provinces of Turkey in order to evaluate the spacial equity considerations. Design/methodology/approach - The evolution of the SECs and of the secondary schools over time are described and compared. The provincial distribution of the SECs, secondary schools, and the high school age population are compared. The characteristics of these distributions are evaluated to inform about spatial equity issues. The distribution of high school age population that attend secondary schools and the distribution of the secondary school students that attend SECs across the provinces are compared. Findings - The evidence points out to significant provincial variations in various characteristics of SECs and the secondary schools. The distribution of the SECs is more unequal than that of the secondary schools. The provinces located mostly in the east and south east of the country have lower quality SECs and secondary schools. Further, the SEC participation among the secondary school students and the secondary school participation among the relevant age group are lower in some of the provinces indicating major disadvantages. Originality/value - The review of the most recent developments about the SECs, examination and comparison of provincial distributions of the SECs and of the secondary schools are novelties in this chapter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper aims to present research findings on the return intentions of Turkish professionals residing abroad, where the targeted group comprises individuals working at a full-time job abroad who possess at least a tertiary level degree. Design/methodology/approach - The study uses a descriptive framework to establish the validity of several proposed models of non-return. The results are based on an internet survey of Turkish professionals conducted by the authors during the first half of 2002. A combination of internet search and referral sampling methods is used to collect the data. Correspondence analysis is used to examine the relationship between return intentions and various factors that may affect this intention. Findings - The results emphasize the importance of student non-return versus traditional brain and appear to complement the various theories of student non-return. Many Turkish professionals working abroad are non-returning post-graduate students rather than holders of higher degrees obtained in Turkey who subsequently moved. The respondents appear to come from relatively well-to-do families with highly educated parents. Many have earned their degrees from universities that have foreign language instruction. The recent economic crises in Turkey have negatively affected return intentions. It is verified that return intentions are indeed linked closely with initial return plans, and that this relationship weakens with stay duration. Specialized study and work experience in the host country also all appear to contribute to explaining the incidence of non-return. Return intentions are weaker for those working in an academic environment. Originality/value - The study is the first of its kind for Turkey and other developing countries in terms of the number of responses received and the kind of information collected. Implications are valuable for Turkish and other developing country planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This article seeks to examine whether or not various macroeconomic policy shocks have different effects on overall unemployment and the unemployment by different levels of education in Turkey. These effects are assessed separately for male and female unemployment Design/methodology/approach — To examine the relationship, a quarterly VAR model with a recursive order is employed to estimate the effects of real GDP, price, exchange rate and interbank interest rate on unemployment for the period from 1988:01 to 2003:04. Findings — Main findings indicate that monetary policy does not affect the total unemployment as well as the components of unemployment by educational level and by gender in Turkey. On the other hand, income policies, which include fiscal policies, and unemployment itself! might be the main factors that affect the behavior of total unemployment and its various components. Research limitations/implications — These findings suggest that policy makers should concentrate on non-monetary policies to hamper the unemployment in Turkey. Originality/value — The present study is the first empirical examination of the relationship between various macroeconomic policy shocks and the unemployment both across gender and education levels in a single study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]