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on Arab World |
| By: | Caner, Asena (TOBB University of Economy and Technology); Okten, Cagla (Bilkent University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how the benefits of publicly financed higher education in Turkey are distributed among students with different socioeconomic backgrounds. We use a unique dataset from a nationally representative sample of university entrance exam takers together with data on government subsidies to public universities. We compare the characteristics of students who succeed in the exam to those who do not and those who enter public universities to those who go to private ones. Our econometric analyses based on a three-stage selection model reveal that students from wealthier and more educated families are more likely to be successful at university entrance. Unlike the findings in other countries, students who enroll in private universities come from higher income and more educated families. However, among those who enter public universities, students from higher income and more educated families are more likely to go to universities that receive larger subsidies from the government. |
| Keywords: | higher education, public finance of higher education, Turkey, education, government subsidies |
| JEL: | O12 I22 I24 O15 H4 J1 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7011&r=ara |
| By: | Zahia Ouadah-Bedidi |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idg:wpaper:185&r=ara |
| By: | Premand, Patrick; Brodmann, Stefanie; Almeida, Rita; Grun, Rebekka; Barouni, Mahdi |
| Abstract: | In economies characterized by low labor demand and high rates of youth unemployment, entrepreneurship training has the potential to enable youth to gain skills and create their own jobs. This paper presents experimental evidence on a new entrepreneurship track that provides business training and personalized coaching to university students in Tunisia. Undergraduates in the final year of licence appliquee were given the opportunity to graduate with a business plan instead of following the standard curriculum. This paper relies on randomized assignment of the entrepreneurship track to identify impacts on labor market outcomes one year after graduation. The analysis finds that the entrepreneurship track was effective in increasing self-employment among applicants, but that the effects are small in absolute terms. In addition, the employment rate among participants remains unchanged, pointing to a partial substitution from wage employment to self-employment. The evidence shows that the program fostered business skills, expanded networks, and affected a range of behavioral skills. Participation in the entrepreneurship track also heightened graduates’ optimism toward the future shortly after the Tunisian revolution. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Labor Markets,Primary Education,Access to Finance,Educational Sciences |
| Date: | 2012–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6285&r=ara |
| By: | Simplice A, Asongu |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to assess how financial sector competition plays out in the development of knowledge economy (KE). It contributes at the same time to the macroeconomic literature on measuring financial development and response to the growing field of KE by means of informal sector promotion, micro finance and mobile banking. It suggests a practicable way to disentangle the effects of various financial sectors on different components of KE. The variables identified under the World Bank’s four knowledge economy index (KEI) are employed. Three hypotheses based on seven propositions are tested. Results show: (1) the informal financial sector, a previously missing component in the definition of the financial system by the IMF significantly affects KE dimensions; (2) disentangling different components of the existing measurement of the financial system improves dynamics in the KE-finance nexus and; (3) introduction of measures of sector importance provides relevant new insights into how financial sector competition affects KE. |
| Keywords: | Financial development; Knowledge Economy |
| JEL: | P00 O10 O34 P48 G21 |
| Date: | 2012–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43009&r=ara |