Left behind: intergenerational transmission of human capital in the midst of HIV/AIDS

This paper provides evidence on how adverse health conditions affect the transfer of human capital from one generation to the next. We explore the differential exposure to HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa as a substantial health shock to both household and community environment. We utilize the recent rounds of the Demographic and Health Surveys for 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. First, we find that an additional year of maternal education leads to a 0.37-year increase in children’s years of schooling in the developing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Second, our results show that mother’s HIV status has substantial detrimental effects on inheritability of human capital. We find that the association between infected mothers’ and their children’s human capital is 30 % less than the general population. Finally, focusing only on noninfected mothers and their children, we show that HIV prevalence in the community also impairs the intergenerational human capital transfers even if mother is HIV negative. The findings of this paper are particularly distressing for these already poor, HIV-torn countries as in the future they will have even lower overall level of human capital due to the epidemic.     

Trying Islam: Muslims before the European Court of Human Rights

This paper examines the reasons why the European Court of Human Rights remains ineffective in protecting the freedom of religion, especially as this issue applies to Muslims. I discuss these reasons under four broad categories: religion-specific, non-Christian religion-specific, and Islam-specific. First, there are problems that adversely affect everyone's freedom of religion. Despite expansive rights for the freedom of religion and belief that are provided in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Court has devised some methods that largely limit the scope of these rights. Second, these problems are much more salient in the Court's dealings with non-Christian religious traditions. Third, I claim that among these non-Christian relations, the Court's handling of cases involving Muslims is particularly problematic because of fears both about Islam and Muslim visibility and demands. Fourth, the Court's desire to promote the principle of secularism has allowed it to ignore government's “assertive secular” policies even when such policies conflicted with human rights of Muslim individuals.     

HIV and fertility in Africa: first evidence from population-based surveys

The historical pattern of the demographic transition suggests that fertility declines follow mortality declines, followed by a rise in human capital accumulation and economic growth. The HIV/AIDS epidemic threatens to reverse this path. We utilize recent rounds of the demographic and health surveys that link an individual woman’s fertility outcomes to her HIV status based on testing. The data allow us to distinguish the effect of own positive HIV status on fertility (which may be due to lower fecundity and other physiological reasons) from the behavioral response to higher mortality risk, as measured by the local community HIV prevalence. We show that although HIV-infected women have significantly lower fertility, local community HIV prevalence has no significant effect on noninfected women’s fertility.     

Intentional time inconsistency

We propose a theoretical model to explain the usage of time-inconsistent behavior as a strategy to exploit others when reputation and trust have secondary effects on the economic outcome. We consider two agents with time-consistent preferences exploiting common resources. Supposing that an agent is believed to have time-inconsistent preferences with probability p,  we analyze whether she uses this misinformation when she has the opportunity to use it. Using the model originally provided by Levhari and Mirman (Bell J Econ 11(1):322–334, 1980), we determine the optimal degree of present bias that the agent would like to have while pretending to have time-inconsistent preferences and we provide the range of present-bias parameter under which deceiving is optimal. Moreover, by allowing the constant relative risk aversion class of utility form, we characterize the distinction between pretending to be naive and sophisticated.

     

Sustainable development in historic areas: Adaptive re-use challenges in traditional houses in Sanliurfa,Turkey

The adaptive re-use of buildings is an approach for developing historical areas, and it extends the life of historical patterns. However, adaptive re-use is applied to development projects in different ways including compatible re-use and most appropriate re-use, both of which contribute to the sustainability of historic areas. The present study discusses the challenges associated with the compatible re-use and most appropriate re-use approaches for commercial and community development. In the case of commercial development, re-use is generally initiated by private entrepreneurship and is typically a new activity intended to generate income to sufficiently cover restoration and maintenance costs. Examples include the re-using as restaurants and hotels. Community re-use, which is mostly initiated by governmental involvement or development trusts, does not generate sufficient income to cover restoration and maintenance costs, but it does provide social benefits to the community. The present study demonstrates that design criteria can emphasise the significance of cultural heritage through adaptive-reuse. The research methodology used is tested through six selected case studies analysing sustainable development activities involving the traditional houses of Sanliurfa in Turkey. The aim of analysing the changes and their effects on the traditional houses of Sanliurfa and their historical environment is to highlight the challenges and approaches to re-use in terms of development involving historical patterns and conservation areas to provide guidelines for future projects.     

An empirical investigation of advanced manufacturing technology investment patterns: Evidence from a developing country

Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) investment patterns in developing countries is in need of further investigation, particularly in the light of the conflicting evidence from the literature. This paper provides new evidence on AMT investment patterns from the Turkish automotive industry and develops a taxonomy by exploring the relationships between AMT investment patterns, ownership structure, firm size and performance. Analysis of industry survey data suggests the existence of three groups with different AMT investment strategies. Results suggest that AMT investment patterns are not only significantly correlated with firm performance or ownership, but also reveals significant differences in manufacturing performance across investment patterns.     

Turkey: a pilot study of elder mistreatment in a convenience sample

Attitudes towards elder abuse were explored through a survey on International Perspectives on Family Violence and Abuse in a Turkish convenience sample of 25 females and 14 males, ranging in age from 22 to 58. Participants gave examples of behaviors considered in their culture to be extremely abusive, moderately abusive, and mildly abusive from an adult child toward his or her older parent. Responses were coded into four major categories of abuse, each of which had several subcategories: psychological aggression (including the subcategories of verbal aggression, emotional abuse, disrespect, disobedience, power assertion, blame, and imprisonment), neglect (including physical neglect, psychological neglect, abandonment, and putting the older individual into a nursing home), physical aggression (including beating and hitting), and mistreatment related to goods and services (including economic demands, economic withholding, and labor). The most common examples of extreme abuse were neglect, particulary physical neglect, followed by physical abuse. At the moderate and mild levels, various forms of psychological aggression were most commonly mentioned. The only significant gender difference was that men listed more instances of verbal aggression as examples of extreme abuse than women. A positive correlation was found between age and the number of abandonment examples at the extreme level. Results were interpreted from a cultural perspective.