First place achievement by our students!
Our students Osman İlter and Seda Peksevim came first in the research competition held by Foundation for Economic Research (İAV) of which the subject was Global Trade Wars and their influences on World and Economy of Turkey and the winner was awarded with Prof. Dr. Orhan Dikmen research award, by overclassing tough competition.
Congratulations to our students for coming first in a competition with strong competition in which not only students but academicians as well participated. We conducted an interview with the students as regards how the process began, continued and what were the factors that led them to success:
1-) Can you tell us a little bit about your process of participating in the competition?
Seda Peksevim: During a conversation, my friend Osman Ilter mentioned the competition organized by the Foundation for Economic Research (IAV). The subject of the competition "New Protectionism in Global Trade: Trade Wars and Their Repercussions on the World and Turkish Economy" it was set to be. We are very interested in the up-to-dateness of the issue and the fact that the effects of trade wars on The Turkish economy will also be examined.
Osman Ilter: This competition, organized by the IAV, a well-established foundation that serves to investigate economic, social and financial problems in Turkey and to develop solutions to them, we saw it as an opportunity to test it and decided to enter the competition.
2-) What were the factors and challenges you faced that motivated you to study this research?
Seda Peksevim: Although my undergraduate education is based on economics, I am pursuing my master's degree and current Doctoral studies on pension funds and financial stability. Although economics and finance are interrelated disciplines, I wasn't sure we could produce such a comprehensive investigation until the deadline. On the other hand, i.e. I can tell you that our previous experience in the right division of labour, qualified literature review and econometric analysis are important factors in winning this award. In particular, I would like to thank all my econometrics professors at Bogazici University.
Osman Ilter: I also focused entirely on finance in my undergraduate and graduate studies. Economics was not an area I was familiar with as academic discipline. However, I was always interested in current developments in the field of economics. The application for the competition was opened in April, but we became aware of the competition in september. We had less than three months left on the deadline, so it was hard for us to deal with the time limit. On the other hand, the idea that very valuable academics can apply to this competition did not attract us.
3-) At the end of the competition, your research was published as a book. Can you outline your book?
Seda Peksevim: In the first chapter of the book, we examined in detail the literature on free trade, economic growth and protectionism policies in foreign trade. In this section, readers can also access different country practices regarding tariffs, embargoes and other non-tariff barriers.
In the second chapter, we analyzed the relationship between commercial openness and economic growth using different econometric methods for Turkey and other developing countries. In particular, the fact that there were very few previous studies conducted on the basis of developing countries and many of them did not address the problem of endogenousness encountered in econometric analysis helped us contribute to the literature in this field.
Osman Ilter: In addition to the two sections mentioned, we examined the possible effects of trade wars in the last chapter through a simulation study for Turkey, USA, China and Mexico. In this section, with the SMART trade simulation in the World Bank (WITS) database, we analyzed in detail the impact of the different tariff values applied on the country's economy, prosperity and trade indicators.
4-) How can you reach your book if you want to find out more about your work?
Seda Peksevim: Our book was published as a printout of prof. Dr. Orhan Dikmen research award. Afterwards, we went into the second edition, especially because of the interest shown by the researchers in academic life. Right now, our book is available from the Foundation for Economic Research. All publishing rights to the book belong to the Foundation for Economic Research.
5-) Undergraduate or graduate students will definitely be among those who wish to participate in such competitions. What advice would you give them?
Seda Peksevim: First of all, it is important to have a research focus that has become your focal point in academic life. More importantly, you love this topic and spend most of your time researching to address problems related to your subject. In addition, I believe that these rewards are very important opportunities to feed yourself in different areas as well. Having specific dates of award applications is also an advantage in terms of increasing the discipline of researchers in academic life.
Osman Ilter: Knowing that your academic work is valued is very motivating for a researcher who is new to academic life. For this reason, it is important for researchers to follow up on such competitions and prizes and to evaluate opportunities. I would recommend that they see competitions and awards as important opportunities to develop themselves in different subjects in academic life.
