The South East European Journal of Economics and Business

FINANCIAL INCLUSION, CARBON FOOTPRINT AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT NEXUS: THE CASE OF TÜRKİYE

Semra Boğa, Kemal Erkişi — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 18:18:59 +0000

In an era marked by increasing global challenges related to sustainability and human well-being, this research investigates the complex interrelationship between financial inclusion (FI), carbon footprint, and human development in the unique context of Türkiye. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset spanning three decades, we employ advanced econometric techniques, including the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Canonical Cointegrating Regression (CCR), to shed light on this multifaceted nexus. The findings reveal that FI, as gauged by the Financial Institutions and Financial Markets, significantly contributes to Türkiye’s Human Development. Improved financial access and stability are associated with positive advancements in human development indicators over the long term. Additionally, our analysis underscores the environmental dimension, as increased carbon dioxide emissions exhibit a detrimental impact on human development. These results emphasize the importance of aligning economic progress with ecological sustainability in Türkiye’s development trajectory. By employing both FMOLS and CCR, our research enhances the comprehensiveness and robustness of the analysis. The combination of these methodologies not only elucidates the causal relationships within this intricate nexus but also offers insights into policy measures that can simultaneously foster FI, mitigate environmental degradation, and enhance human well-being in Türkiye. This study contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable development by providing empirical evidence on the interplay between FI, environmental concerns, and human development in Türkiye, ultimately advancing our understanding of the complex dynamics underpinning national development efforts in the twenty-first century.

EXPLORING THE LINKAGE BETWEEN DOMESTIC SAVINGS, INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM THE EASTERN EUROPEAN ECONOMIES

Olcay Çolak — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 10:32:24 +0000

Beyond the theoretical aspects, the interplay between savings, investment and economic growth has vital importance in designing the proper economic policies for the long-run developmental objectives particularly for developing countries. Accordingly, this present paper aims to investigate the dynamic linkage between domestic savings, investment and economic growth for the Eastern European economies by incorporating the annual panel data spanning over 1995-2021. By revealing the existence of long-run relationship, the paper derives that savings and investment are the key factors of economic growth, which is vindicated by the recently pioneered model so called cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) method. Furthermore, the results of panel causality tests confirm the validity of causal nexus running from savings and investment to economic growth. In addition, the paper concludes with some policy recommendations that are drawn upon the findings.

THE IMPACT OF LEAGUE DESIGN IN EUROPEAN FOOTBALL FROM SMALL LEAGUES’ PERSPECTIVE

Selçuk Özaydın — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 07:07:02 +0000

The effects of league design have not been a major area of interest in the European football literature primarily due to the standardization of league structures in major leagues of Europe. This study investigates how league design affects the likelihood of qualifying for UEFA competitions in six smaller European leagues over a 10-year period from 2013/2014 to 2022/2023. Using market values as the primary independent variable to proxy talent, a logistic model is estimated. Prize money from UEFA competitions serves as a significant income source for all teams, particularly crucial for smaller league teams due to its relative size when compared to aggregate revenues. Evidence suggests that the existence of playoffs provides an advantage for the stronger teams in the league in terms of qualifying for UEFA competitions and potentially leading to persistent domination of these teams. Domestic policymakers face a tradeoff between maintaining domestic competitive balance and probable future competitiveness in inter-European competitions.

THE EFFECTS OF ZOMBIE COMPANIES ON THE ECONOMY: AN APPLICATION ON TÜRKİYE

Zeynep Kaplan, Emine Ebru Aksoy — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 13:02:36 +0000

Zombie companies are defined as the ones that are unable to cover interest payments from current profits and that manage to survive with various supports even though they should have exited the market under normal conditions. By holding scarce resources, these companies hinder the reallocation of resources to healthy companies that can use them more efficiently, thus threatening economic growth. This study aims to examine the existence of zombie companies in Türkiye and their effects on the performance of healthy companies operating in the same industry. In this context, the study describes estimates of zombie companies’ existence using company-level data for the period 2006-2021 obtained from the Enterprise Information System (EIS) database, which contains several datasets of all businesses of Türkiye and analyses their economic effects using a panel model with fixed effects. According to the empirical findings, the prevalence of zombie companies has generally risen since the beginning of the analysis period, and an increase in the share of capital sunk in zombies in an industry reduces investment rate and employment growth of healthy companies in that industry and increases the multi-factor productivity gap between zombie and healthy companies. The results show that zombie companies in Türkiye reduce growth opportunities of the healthy companies. Based on the results, it is recommended that policymakers take measures to reduce the prevalence of zombies for economic growth. This paper is the first study to use the EIS database for the analysis of zombie companies. In addition, a new method not used in the literature in advance was developed and used to identify zombie companies.

EXPLORING THE ROLE OF FIVE KEY RISKS FOR APPLE FARMERS: AN EXPLANATORY AND INFERENTIAL ANALYSIS

Arif Murrja, Gentjan Cera — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:27:51 +0000

This study investigates the impact of the five main risks (production, market, financial, legal compliance, and human resources) along with risk analysis, farmer experience, and farm size on farm income. The research is based on primary data collection consisting of 300 valid questionnaires. The respondents were randomly selected, and the interviews were conducted face-to-face. Explanatory (principal component analysis) and inferential statistical (regression analysis) approaches are employed to test the formulated hypotheses. The results showed that risk analysis, experience, and farm size significantly affect farm income. Additionally, legal risk and production risk were significant and influenced farm income, whereas financial risk, market risk, and human resources risk did not. The findings of the research assist farmers, field researchers, policymakers at local and central levels, and other stakeholders such as clients, suppliers, and consumers. This guides farmers in effective risk management and helps government institutions in drafting supportive policies for the sustainable development of agriculture.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SKILLS IN ENHANCING MANAGERIAL PERFORMANCE THROUGH TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS: A DEVELOPING COUNTRY PERSPECTIVE

Alisa Mujkić, Amra Kapo, Jasna Kovačević, Benina Veledar — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:32:36 +0000

Although a significant number of studies analyzing the impact of transformational leadership on job performance has been recognized, there is a lack of research considering this construct in the context of managerial performance, and along with interpersonal characteristics. To fill this gap, this paper has been built on Mintzberg’s (1973) premise according to which interpersonal skills play an important role in achieving not only managerial performance but also their leadership styles. In other words, it has been argued that transformational leadership behaves as a mediator in the relationship between social skills and managerial performance. Given the main findings, the paper contributes to practical thinking by indicating the importance of including social skills training focused on building social flexibility and presentation skills, so that managers could have a greater positive impact on managerial performance. As a consequence, it is well known that their better performance increases overall organizational success, which is a valuable lesson for a developing country setting in which this research has been conducted. Contributions to theory and practice are offered after which direction for further research follows.