This paper provides evidence of how positive and negative monetary policy surprises affect exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) for the CPI inflation rate and its 12 subcomponents by using the state space model with monthly data from January 2013 to December 2023 for T & uuml;rkiye. The empirical findings from the CPI inflation rate and its subcomponents show that a looser-than-expected monetary policy affects ERPT more than a tighter-than-expected monetary policy. The impacts of the increases in positive monetary policy surprises on ERPT are highest in Transport; Furnishing, Household Equip. & etc.; Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Education; and Clothing and Footwear sectors, which are more dependent on imported inputs and thus more sensitive to exchange rate movements. The impacts of the increases in the negative monetary policy surprises on ERPT are highest in Transport; Health; Furnishing, Household Equip. & etc.; Miscellaneous Goods and Services; Hotels, Cafes and Restaurants; and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. Consequently, these findings demonstrate the benefits of a positive monetary policy surprise to struggle inflation problem by reducing the ERPT. Within this framework, the implementation of front-loaded, i.e. proactive interest rate decisions, may be put forward as a policy recommendation for the success of controlling inflation.
This study assesses the efficiency with which Moroccan public secondary schools transform resources into student achievement using PISA 2022 data. School-level technical efficiency is estimated through an output-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) model under variable returns to scale. Results show an average efficiency score of 0.88 (original DEA score approximate to 1.14), indicating that schools could raise PISA performance by up to 14% with unchanged inputs. The analysis reveals notable disparities in efficiency both among and within regions, underscoring structural variations inherent in Morocco's decentralized education system. A second-stage bootstrap truncated regression identifies key determinants: grade repetition and bullying reduce efficiency, while rural schools perform more efficiently than urban ones. Significant regional fixed effects further suggest that differences in efficiency reflect broader socioeconomic conditions beyond student and school-level factors. Overall, the study provides the first PISA-based efficiency benchmarks for Moroccan secondary schools and underscores the need for policies that enhance internal resource use while addressing external contextual constraints.
The rapid expansion of electricity to rural Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of infrastructure on women's empowerment. Using a large panel of villages observed in three consecutive censuses (1986, 1996, 2006) and administrative records on electrification, we apply difference-in-differences to estimate the effect of electrification on the gender literacy gap. Our estimates suggest that between 1986 and 1996, electrification accounted for about 78 percent of the observed decline. Evidence points to two channels: the expansion of educational infrastructure and the diffusion of labor-saving appliances, particularly refrigerators. These gains occurred while the state was actively reinforcing traditional gender roles, underscoring the power of development policy to advance women's education even in contexts where laws and norms restrict their autonomy.
This paper quantifies the gains in GDP (and GDP per capita) from closing gender employment gaps in the Middle East and North Africa. In the simplest model, the Gender Employment Gap Index, long-run GDP would be around 50 percent higher in the typical economy in the region if gender employment gaps were closed. However, gains are roughly halved in the short term if capital is fixed, or in the medium term with sluggish increases in female employment (using a Solow-Swan type model). Finally, we introduce skills in a model with capital-skill complementarities. Because gender employment gaps in the region tend to be larger among the unskilled, closing these gaps reduces average skill levels, moderating long-term gains by 5-10 percentage points. GDP gains are heterogeneous across countries, mostly due to heterogeneity in the size of the underlying gender employment gaps.
Kuwaiti women working in Kuwait's civil service earn, on average, 18 percent less than Kuwaiti men. Using a unique data set of all Kuwaiti nationals working in Kuwait's civil service, this paper analyzes the relationship between wages, gender, and the relative dominance of women in occupations and workplaces. The main finding is that an important portion of the association between gender and wages is explained not by human capital but by occupational and workplace segregation of men and women. Occupations with a higher ratio of women to men tend to have lower wages for men and women compared to occupations with a lower ratio of women to men. This finding is especially true for women. In addition, workplaces with a higher ratio of women to men exhibit lower male wages but slightly higher female wages than workplaces with lower female-to-male workplace ratios. The paper calls this latter novel finding the female-worker representation effect.
