You can find the abstracts of articles that are accepted for publication in the future issues on this page.
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An Assessment of Trade and Investment Flows Between Turkey and The European Union: Perspectives on Future Political Integration
Ricardo Bustillo Mesanza
Carlos Rodríguez González
Abstract
The last three decades have witnessed a deep change in Turkish economic integration with the world economy, and have also caused an impact in the bilateral relationship with the European Union. The political challenge of accession to the European Union has demanded an important shift in order to favour structural changes in the Turkish economy and the involvement of society in those transformations. The growth in foreign trade and direct investment figures is a consequence of trying to accomplish these objectives. However, especially in comparison to the level attained by Central and Eastern European countries, there are still outstanding possibilities for a closer commercial and industrial connection with the European Union and in general with the most developed OECD countries. In this research we use panel data for the period 1992-2003 and 24 countries in order to identify the main determinants of Turkish exports and foreign direct investment inflows. The econometric specification is based on the gravity model for exports and on the knowledge capital model for FDI, which are the most robust models developed for these purposes. Results reveal that labour cost differences and joint market size are among the main factors behind those bilateral flows.
Key words: economic integration, foreign trade, foreign direct investment.
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Corruption and Intermediaries: A Game Theoretical Approach
Dr. Güzin Bayar
Abstract
The aim of the article is to examine a bribee-initiated corrupt transaction and the role of intermediaries in such a transaction. Corrupt officers, who want to obtain a bribe from the public services they offer, use their power to increase red tape to enforce clients to pay a bribe. However, if the officer demands a bribe directly from the clients, they face the risk of demanding a bribe from a ";;;whistleblower";;; client, who has high ethical values and complains to the law enforcement authority about every bribe demand from her.
I examine cases with and without intermediaries in such a scenario and then compare the results of the two. In the case where there is no intermediary, in some situations the risks involved may be so large that the officer may prefer not to demand a bribe. On the other hand, in the cases with intermediaries, the detection risk is reduced, so taking a bribe is nearly always more profitable for the officer.
Key Words: Corruption, Bribe, Clients, Red Tape, Intermediaries