This study focuses on the female labor force participation rate (LFPR). Cross-country fixed effect analysis of fifty-six countries shows that female LFPR increases with income and education level. Moreover, average schooling years for males is a good fit for female LFPR especially in the low income countries with low education level. Average schooling years for females is a good fit for female LFPR especially in the high income countries with high education level. Higher female tertiary enrollment ratio is significant for higher female LFPR. On the other hand, Turkey has a lower level of female LFPR than the predicted level. Low female education explains the lower female LFPR of Turkey than the countries with similar income level. However, female LFPR has a declining trend in time even if income and education level improves. Institutional background of Turkey indicates the negative impact of urbanization on participation rates. However, under different growth and education scenarios, Turkey can reach higher levels until 2030. Employment policies especially focused on higher education is essential to reach the targets.

This thesis questions the connection between knowledge and finance and advances an account that links both in a two-folded way. The first level departs from what separates the two opposite views or alternative explanations about the value of knowledge. The source and essence of the extra profits in information goods or commodities, such as digital media contents and software, featuring increasing returns to scale owing to their peculiar cost structure manifested by a high fixed cost and very low constant marginal cost, is what separates the two views about the value of knowledge. In light of the near-decomposability/modularity hypothesis, the extra profits in information commodities should arise from &#039 / information hiding,&#039 / which is intrinsic to nearly-decomposable systems or modular architecture because they are built on an ignorance on the parts in regard to the other parts and the whole of system. Such (hidden) design information that gives rise to parts or modules creates, at the same time, the future paths of action or (real) options, according to real-options perspective. When the two perspectives are combined, knowledge production, as distinct from subsequent knowledge commodity production, basically becomes an option creation process. Then, it becomes possible to argue that the concurrence of knowledge and finance is not a coincidence at all because the logics of accumulation is no different but almost identical, which is the second level of the two-folded account attempted in this study. The main contribution of this thesis is to build an account that links financialization to knowledge via the notion of modularity. Such an account sees financialization as a reflection and consequence of a value-driven permanent innovation economy developed under the &#039 / IT paradigm&#039 / in order to exploit a surplus peculiar and intrinsic to the modular structure that makes &#039 / information hiding&#039 / an integral part of such architectures since they are by definition built on an ignorance on the parts in regard to the other parts and the whole of system.

In this study, the concept of &lsquo / Social Market Economy&rsquo / which was the leading idea in the post-Second World War economic order of Germany will be analysed. This analysis will also take into consideration the Economic School of Ordoliberalism which emerged in the inter-war period and greatly influenced the construction of the idea of &lsquo / Social Market Economy&rsquo / with its theoretical principles. Some politicians and theoreticians in the post-war period also contributed to the development of the concept. Within this theoretical framework, the post-war economic policies and developments will be surveyed and the newly established economic order will be compared with the ideals of Social Market Economy theoretical programme. In particular, the impact of the Social Market Economy upon the evolution of German Model of Capitalism will be explored by taking into account the significant changes in the role of the state in the economy and the conduct of relations between the social partners especially since the 1960&rsquo / s.

International migration is an important issue that has become even more important with the recent globalization process and economic restructuring. Economic activities that stem from this process have provided new opportunities for labor exporting countries. In the past, the focus was on remittances but today the entrepreneurial activities of transnational entrepreneurs have become more important. Many developing countries have recently concentrated their policies upon this group of entrepreneurs and they try to increase the economic benefits from their activities. Turkey is also one of the major labor exporting countries. New economic opportunities that concern the activities of transnational entrepreneurs have emerged for Turkey recently. These entrepreneurs are very important especially at the regional level. In &Ccedil / orum, several transnational entrepreneurs founded their firms. They contribute to employment, exports and income considerably. These entrepreneurs succeed by making use of their social capital and network. They also create positive externalities by encouraging other local entrepreneurs to export. Our findings show that these entrepreneurs need consulting and information / therefore, the state should get involved in this process more actively. Only then can one expect greater benefits from the ongoing process.

This study investigates the determinants and effects of currency and asset substitution in Turkey using quarterly data from 1987:1 to 2002:4. The empirical results from the application of Johansen procedure to a four-variable system containing currency-asset substitution proxy (M2Y/M2)), real income, real exchange rate, and ratchet effect proxy (past peak values of the depreciation of the real exchange rate) suggest the presence of a single cointegration vector among the variables. The results further suggest the endogeneity of the degree of currency substitution for the parameters of the cointegration vector. According to the theory consistent and data-acceptable long-run relationship between the variables, there is a strong ratchet (hysteresis) effect in currency-asset substitution in Turkey. The study contains also the policy implications of both currency substitution and the ratchet effect arising from real exchange rate change shocks in the Turkish economy.

The Turkish Electricity System has gone through a liberalization process. This study aims to analyze the possible outcomes of this process by using a simulation framework. First, we look at the basics of new market design and focus on international evidence. Second, the theoretical and empirical literature about the liberalization of the electricity sector is reviewed. Then, the structure of our model, Turkish Electricity System Simulation Model (TESS), is summarized. In this model, it is assumed that a spot market is formed and all the agents in the sector operate in this market. Using this model, the effects of various factors, like industry structure, consumer participation and regulation, upon the performance of the spot market are analyzed. Moreover, in simulation case studies, uniform and a non-uniform pricing mechanisms are compared.

Turkish textile and clothing industry is one of the pillar industries of Turkish economy with its contribution to export, GDP and employment. Also, it has linkages with many other industries. As a consequent, developments emerged in the industry eventually affect the overall economy of Turkey. Hence, analysis of the competitiveness of the enterprises operating in the textile and clothing industry of Turkey is very important for a more competitive country. Within this context, the purpose of this study is to explore the key determinants of competitiveness of Turkish textiles and clothing industry, and analyze the effects of firm characteristics and future expectations on perceived competitive advantage of Turkish textiles and clothing firms. The study further purposes to analyze the Turkish textiles and clothing industry&rsquo / s structure.

Haptoglobin is an acute phase protein with important biological role because of its capacity to bind to haemoglobin. Haptoglobin exists in three major genetic polymorphism types: Hp1-1, Hp2-1 and Hp2-2, the distribution of which has been associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), an asymptomatic aortic disease common among men older than 65 years.    Five different electrophoretic methods were tested according to their ability to separate the haptoglobin phenotypes. The detection was based on a produced hemolysate of blood in which haemoglobin binds to haptoglobin thereby forming a complex that can be detected by specific haemoglobin staining using TMB-dihydrochloride and hydro peroxide as substrate resulting in an azure-green color of the bands. Samples from 15 patients who had suffered surgery for not broken AAA, that is more than5.0 cmaortic diameter, and 15 samples from matched controls were analyzed.    Among the five tested electrophoretic methods best migration and separation was seen on the pre-cast agarosgel Hydragel HR on the instrument Hydrasys. The other four methods gave less successful results. This pilot investigation showed the following distribution of the phenotypes of haptoglobin among AAA patients; 7 % Hp1-1, 40 % Hp2-1 and 53 % Hp2-2 and for the controls; 13 % Hp1-1, 33 % Hp2-1 and 53 % Hp2-2.    In conclusion, the used techniques has to be further optimized and more patients have to be included in the study before it can be ascertained if the phenotypes of Haptoglobin play any role in the progress of the AAA disease.

The changes in the behaviour of the innovating firm that would not have been the case in the absence of the public support, behavioural additionality, is investigated in this thesis. The theoretical foundations of the concept along with the existing evaluation attempts worldwide are analysed. The need for evaluation in Turkey is established. The design of the T&Uuml / BiTAK-TEYDEB programme in question along with the related policy context is described to form a basis for the evaluation of the behavioural additionality. It is revealed that the need for an evaluation of behavioural additionality for the legitimacy of the programme from the data analysis. Finally, given such inputs, the thesis develops a methodological proposal for a framework to evaluate the behavioural additionality of the public support to private R&amp / D in Turkey.

In this study, the applicability of the Balanced Scorecard Framework, developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in 1992 for measuring performance at the organizational level or the business unit level, to performance measurement during the implementation phase of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is investigated. A model based on the Balanced Scorecard Framework is presented with sample indicators for each of the four perspectives -Financial Perspective, Customer Perspective, Internal Business Perspective and Innovation and Learning Perspective- proposed in the original framework. The indicators for measuring ERP implementation success are derived from a comprehensive literature survey. Furthermore, a software tool is developed to operationalize the proposed balanced scorecard model. The model and the software tool demonstrate the applicability of the Balanced Scorecard Framework for monitoring and measuring performance during the implementation phase of ERP systems / that is, the relevance of the Balanced Scorecard Framework at the project level.