1,720,994 research outputs found
The de-industrialization process In Azerbaijan : Dutch disease syndrome revisited
Full text linkThis paper focuses on the de-industrialization processes of Azerbaijan adopting the Dutch disease syndrome as the theoretical framework. After the emergence of Dutch disease hypotheses, resource-rich countries have become its main object of research. The consequences of Dutch disease syndrome are chronically appreciating national currency, a shrinking manufacturing sector compared to the booming sector, and the services sector. In order to shed light on this aspect of the Azerbaijan economy, important literature examples regarded de-industrialization and Dutch disease were examined and descriptive statistics applied to visualize the economy’s recent timeline. This research mainly brings back the actuality of the Dutch disease phenomena to Azerbaijan’s economy, connecting it to the deindustrialization process on employment, output, and trade level. The main intention is to depict and to compare policy responses of the national government during and after such crisis periods like 2008–2009 and 2014–2015 in a systematic detailed manner
A comparison of institutional quality in the South Caucasus : focus on Azerbaijan
Full text linkMuch has happened in the three countries of the South Caucasus-namely, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia-since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Political events, institutional reforms, and economic development have resulted in greater economic welfare in these countries after the painful transition period of the 1990s. However, it remains to be seen whether they have achieved any solid results or whether they still have much to accomplish. While the answer is ambiguous, each country has followed a different political, geopolitical, economic, and institutional path and achieved different economic outcomes despite their close geographical proximity to each other. This paper compares the available data on economic and institutional quality in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia to portray the overall situation in terms of changes in institutional patterns. Then, special attention is given to Azerbaijan, as the country is considered to be oil-rich and thus resource-dependent. A comparative perspective on institutional quality suggests that Georgia has been a leading country in terms of institutions and effective bureaucracy-building, despite having lower economic indicators compared to Azerbaijan. Moreover, while Armenia is positioned between Georgia and Azerbaijan in terms of institutional quality, its economic growth is similar to Georgia's. Lastly, institutional variables (e.g., control of corruption, rule of law, and government effectiveness, and human rights) in Azerbaijan are negatively correlated with oil-related variables. This result aligns with the natural resource curse and Dutch disease theories, which posit that oil boom periods in mineral-rich countries are associated with a deterioration in institutional quality, thereby leading to slower growth. Also, the results are important to build up analytical frameworks to address the Dutch disease or resource curse studies in the case of Azerbaijan in a comparative manner with oil-poor countries even if the scope is limited to the South Caucasian former Soviet Union countries
Understanding Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in the Azerbaijan Economy: Case Studies of Vegetable and Fruit Sectors
Full text linkIs it possible to apply Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in the Azerbaijan economy? Before blindly answering the question, careful examination of the collected data and the relevance of the data set to the mentioned analysis should be checked. PCA is a widely used multivariate dimension reduction tool that statistical analysis employs. Nevertheless, its application area is limited. Also, PCA analysis in macroeconomic studies is not much preferred and in Azerbaijan's case, there is not one. To understand this methods' relevance two case studies, namely vegetable and fruit sectors have been chosen. The aim was to quantify the sub-sectoral performance via vegetable and fruit sectors. The collected data set and PCA analysis on it were evaluated from multiple angles to outline the roadmap for future investigations. The author argues that in line with the method's theoretical expectations, Azerbaijan's vegetable and fruit sectors partially fulfill the planned goals of the analysis. This means PCA is a highly useful analytical tool and might produce valuable sub-sectoral performance evaluations in the case of Azerbaijan. According to the produced indices, the vegetable sector performed better than the fruit sector from 1999 until 2015. However, between 2015-2020 fruit sector outperformed the vegetable sector. A similar analysis can be organized among the other sub-sectors or between sectors in the case of the Azerbaijan economy. Furthermore, this working paper embodies experimentation results, not conclusions about the methods' validity and justification. Hence, this work compares three rotations of PCA analysis (Varimax, Quartimax, and Equamax) and constructed indices separately for vegetable and fruit sectors
Determinants of the Agricultural Exports in Azerbaijan
No full textOil booming and accumulated mineral revenue contributed to the economic growth in Azerbaijan since independence but also pressurized the national currency leading to the appreciation of the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) and real effective exchange rate (REER). An increase in export prices makes them expensive, decreasing the competitiveness of the country. Azerbaijan’s recent decreased economic performance during 2014–2015 reflected a common reality among the resource exporting countries: relying on the primary sectors might jeopardize the national economy due to the extreme price volatility. The paper investigates the extension of the relationship between NEER, REER, and other export-related macroeconomic variables and agricultural exports to identify Azerbaijan’s non-oil sub-sectoral dynamics between 2001–2018 via the OLS estimations. The main findings indicate that NEER negatively impacted potato, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetable exports. Moreover, potato and fresh fruit exports demonstrated more stable export dynamics during the economic crisis periods
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Textile and Chemical Subsectors in the Azerbaijani Economy: A Descriptive Glance at Possible De-Industrialization
No full textAzerbaijan's economy has been investigated within Dutch disease (DD) and Natural Resource Curse Theory (NRCT) several times during the last 20-22 years, but the studies relied on heavily aggregated data and speculative theoretical models. Opinions differ in academia as to how and to what extent these phenomena happened. However, we are still of the assertion that non-oil manufacturing, in general, has experienced adverse effects since the huge oil revenue found its way into the Azerbaijani economy because the cost of non-oil production rose and competitiveness declined due to the domestic inflationary pressures. Meanwhile, subsectoral and specific parts of non-oil economy have not been studied in more detail. This working paper invites to consider textile and chemical subsectors as de-industrialized economic subsectors due to the oil boom's take over since 2005 and 2006 in Azerbaijan. The descriptive analysis shows that the textile subsector is less likely to be relevant from a de-industrialization standpoint after the collapse of the Soviet Union; however, certain chemical subsectors seem to strongly react to the oil boom. Still, this does not mean that we have nothing to worry about the output of the textile industry. These results can be supported by quantitative and empirical works, but not limited to. Qualitative methods can generate new insights on microeconomic levels (i.e., factory or industrial park) about non-oil manufacturing in the Azerbaijani economy to reveal potential adverse/positive effects of oil-led economic growth and development. This working paper and upcoming works can be a useful framework for the government officials and decisionmakers to follow more thorough industrial policies to recover non-oil industrial potential of the Azerbaijani economy in a short period
A Comparative Analysis of Information Communication Technologies Development: A Study of Azerbaijan and Balkan Countries
No full textDevelopment of information and communication technologies (ICTs) plays a pivotal role in promoting overall technological progress in a nation and enabling transformative changes in various sectors. By providing a solid foundation for digital infrastructure, ICTs facilitate innovation, increase productivity, and spur economic growth, placing a nation at the forefront of the global technological landscape. The main objective of this study is to compare Azerbaijan's ICTs development with that of Balkan countries. The growing cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Balkan countries is primarily focused on the energy sector, but there is limited understanding of the technological similarities and differences. To further enhance this cooperation, a comprehensive study of the technological infrastructure and the identification of areas of convergence and divergence are essential. This study will facilitate informed decision-making, pave the way for expanded cooperation in various sectors beyond the energy sector, and promote mutually beneficial relations between Azerbaijan and the Balkan countries. The results of this study, based on hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), show that Azerbaijan is similar to Balkan countries such as Albania, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina when calculating the average values (between the years 2010 and 2020) for various ICTs variables (e.g., 4G coverage, Internet users). The HCA of recent years, like 2020, shows the same picture. This means that there are some similar patterns of ICTs usage and investment in these countries. At the same time, an oil-rich country like Azerbaijan could be comparable to the leading Balkan countries like Greece, Romania, Slovenia, etc. While this gives the Azerbaijani government food for thought, the findings also highlight the potential for cooperation and knowledge sharing between Azerbaijan and the Balkan countries in the field of ICTs, as they can learn from each other's experiences and work together to further improve their respective ICTs sectors
International spillovers of social challenges as a result of sanctions against Russia: An evaluation of the Azerbaijani case
No full textSince February 2022, a new phase of the war between Russia and Ukraine has begun. Apart from the direct consequences for Russia and Ukraine, all post-Soviet countries are affected, as Western sanctions against Russia significantly limit the economic development and cooperation prospects of the post-Soviet region. Azerbaijan is one of Russia's most important trading partners and a neighboring country, and there are serious concerns that these sanctions could have a negative impact on Azerbaijan's socioeconomic life. This is mainly because domestic production in Russia has declined, agricultural exports have been curtailed, and trade and transportation routes have been disrupted. Against the background of all these factors, the social impact of this situation seems to be dramatic. Therefore, this article analyzes qualitative data from social media and websites dealing with Azerbaijan's social challenges. To this end, expert opinions were analyzed using the thematic analysis method to examine the social impact of sanctions at three levels: people living abroad (migrants or expats), remittances, and the purchasing power of locals. The results show that there is a high expectation among experts that sanctions could have a negative impact on remittance flows from Russia to Azerbaijan due to the devalued Russian ruble. There is also a possibility that migrants working and living in Russia will return to Azerbaijan in greater numbers. Finally, experts agreed that the purchasing power of locals in Azerbaijan has declined due to sharp price increases that followed the production slump and export restrictions in Russia. These findings could support ongoing preparations for new socioeconomic realities in Azerbaijan as a result of Western sanctions against Russia. Now policymakers must develop a plan to quickly address Azerbaijan's social problems, even if it is not an emergency
The Dutch Disease Syndrome Side Effects in Manufacturing Employment: A VAR Analysis of the Azerbaijan Economy
Full text linkAfter the painful transition process from a command economy to a market economy, Azerbaijan used its rich hydrocarbon resources to promote economic growth and development. As a result, national income and per capita income soared, infrastructure improved, and poverty was reduced. However, Azerbaijan's economy seems to have been caught up in the negative effects of the oil boom. In other words, non-oil tradeable sectors such as manufacturing have not been able to build on the success and gain a high share of output, employment, and exports due to the increase in the real effective exchange rate (REER) and domestic prices. So far, the literature on studies of Dutch disease in the Azerbaijani economy has focused on highly aggregated data without properly separating the effects of Dutch disease, namely resource movement and spending effects. In this paper, the effects of resource movement were examined using manufacturing employment with a standard unrestricted vector autoregression (VAR). However, to ensure analytical accuracy, the spending effect was also considered. The results show that manufacturing employment responds positively to mining employment. However, when employment in the service sector increases, manufacturing employment shrinks, which is also negatively affected by oil prices and the appreciation of the REER. These results may be useful for policymakers to neutralize the impact of Dutch disease to ensure sustainable development goals and promote export-led growth policies in the manufacturing sector
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