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This study aims to investigate the role and spillover effects of the financial sector on the size of the informal economic activity in Turkey.

Time series analysis has been adopted for annual data of the 1970-2017 period. New approaches in unit root and cointegration tests have been used in this study. Estimations have been done via dynamic ordinary least squares and fully modified ordinary least square approaches.

Results confirm the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the financial system and informal economic activities in Turkey. At the earlier stages of financial development (FD), informality tends to rise while in further stages, informality tends to decline over time. This study confirms the U-shaped relationship between FD and the informal economy in Turkey.

This study has used logarithmic values of series in the econometric analysis except for real interest rates because of negative values in some periods. Thus, by using level forms of real interest, missing values would be avoided.

Increasing efficiency, control and institutional quality, as well as the quality of governance environment, would be useful tools in reducing the size of informality, as this study finds that spillover effects of financial services on the informal economic activity are adverse.

This study is the first of its kind to the best of the knowledge in the case of Turkey, which estimates the spillover effects of FD on informal economic activity.

This paper focuses on the role of sentiment and monetary policy (both domestic and the United States (US)) in explaining the changes in the Mexican tourism firms' stock returns for the period 1998M03–2019M12.

The authors conducted the ordinary least square regression estimations using various models to investigate the impact of sentiment and monetary policy changes on tourism firms' stock returns. Furthermore, to provide a robust check, the authors run all regression models based on the capital asset pricing model by regressing the excess returns of tourism firms' stocks on all independent variables.

Empirical findings reveal that the changes in Mexican consumer sentiment have a stronger positive effect on tourism firms' stock returns than Mexican business sentiment changes. However, the US consumer and business sentiment are irrelevant to tourism firms' stock returns. Moreover, this study’s results indicate that changes in the US interest rates positively influence tourism firms' stock returns. This study’s findings show that as the monetary divergence between Mexico and the US (differential real interest rates) widens, the lower is the tourism firms' stock returns.

This study is the first to extend the prior studies by examining the effects of sentiment and monetary policy (both domestic and US role) on Mexican tourism stock return.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the long-term equilibrium relationship between carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and total biomass consumption (BC) in Turkey, which has a rich diversity of ecological conditions prevailing throughout its regions.

Bounds tests and conditional error correction models under the autoregressive distributed lag approach have been applied to annual data that cover the 1980-2010 period.

Results suggest that CO₂ emissions are in a long-term equilibrium relationship with total BC in Turkey. BC has a negative effect on CO₂ emissions; 1 per cent increase in total BC would lead to 0.029 per cent reduction in CO₂ emissions. Long-term coefficient of fossil fuel consumption for CO₂ emissions is positive and elastic, 1.247. Finally, conditional error correction model of the present study reveals that CO₂ emission in Turkey converges to its economic long-term equilibrium very quickly by 93.7 per cent speed of adjustment through the channel of BC and fossil fuel consumption.

Although there have been a considerable number of studies investigating the link between total energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in the literature, searching the contribution of components of energy to CO₂ emissions deserves attention. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by investigating the effect of BC on CO₂ emissions in the case of Turkey.

To analyze the impact of agricultural sector on the economy of North Cyprus, which suffers from political problems and drought over the years.

Annual data covering 1975‐2002 period has been used to find the direction of causality in Granger sense between agricultural growth and economic growth after employing unit root tests to see if the variables under consideration are stationary.

Results of the present study first suggest that agricultural output growth and economic growth as measured by real gross domestic product growth are stationary at their levels, thus, they are naturally co‐integrated. They are in long run equilibrium relationship. And secondly, there is feedback relationship between these variables that indicates bidirectional causation among them in the long run period.

A more expanded data can be used for further comparison. Furthermore, a future study can be done for other islands to make comparison across themselves.

This study has shown that although North Cyprus suffers from political problems and drought in the agriculture sector, this sector still has an impact on the economy. Thus, effective policies related with this sector should be developed by authorities. Building pipelines from Turkey, which are at the agenda of North Cyprus and Turkish governments over the years should immediately put into action. This will have enormous impact on both sides of the island on the way to a solution in Cyprus problem.

This study is the first of its kind which analyzes the relationship between agricultural output and economic growth in a small island which has a closed economy and is politically non‐recognized state. Furthermore, it is a rare study made for small islands.

There are international students studying in the universities of Northern Cyprus that come from more than 68 countries. Travel agencies are among those firms which are affected the most from these international students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate how international students perceive travel agency services by using the SERVQUAL instrument.

A total of 579 university students studying at the universities of Northern Cyprus responded to a revised version of the SERVQUAL instrument. After a descriptive analysis, a multivariate regression was used to estimate the impact of service quality dimensions on overall student satisfaction and positive word of mouth.

Research results reveal that the expectations of university students are not met and that the largest gap was found in the “empathy” dimension. Results also reveal that the service quality perceptions of Turkish students coming from Turkey significantly differ from that of Turkish Cypriot and other overseas students. The “responsiveness” dimension has the largest influence on student satisfaction in the case of Turkish Cypriot and other overseas students, and the “empathy” dimension has the largest influence on the satisfaction of Turkish students coming from Turkey. Finally, overall satisfaction of all students has a positive and statistically significant impact on their word of mouth.

Millions of students pursue their higher education abroad; therefore, they extensively benefit from travel agencies. The present study is the first of its kind that investigates service quality evaluations and satisfaction levels of international students for travel agencies in Northern Cyprus, a non‐recognized small island state that managed to attract international students from more than 69 different countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direction of causality between the monthly stock returns and the monthly net foreign investor flows, and the existence of feedback trading by foreign investors for the “blue chip” stocks of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), an emerging stock market.

Monthly net foreign investor flows and stock returns of “blue chip” stocks for the period January 1997‐June 2010 are used. Particularly, taking into account the structural changes in the foreign investor trading activity, the study focuses on the two sub‐periods – before and after the start of European Union (EU) accession negotiations of Turkey. The study uses the bivariate VAR Granger causality approach, impulse response analysis and uses regressions with the vector autoregressive structure and contemporaneous structure (without lag).

Unidirectional Granger causality running from monthly stock returns to monthly net foreign investor flows is detected for the pre‐EU accession negotiations period accompanied by a negative feedback trading effect, but a causality relationship and feedback trading could not be established for the post‐EU accession negotiations period. The relationship is a contemporaneous one rather than a lagged relationship for the latter period.

The studies on the impact of foreign investor flows utilize daily and/or monthly data depending on availability. For the ISE, only monthly full data is available. Further research on the effects of foreign investors in the ISE such as the base broadening and price pressure effects should be undertaken.

The findings are particularly useful for financial managers, portfolio managers, traders, domestic and foreign investors dealing with the ISE.

The article contributes to the limited empirical evidence on the price effects of foreign investor flows in the stock exchanges located in Eastern Europe, Middle East and surrounding countries. The study also considers the significant increase in the amount of foreign investor flows after the start of EU accession negotiations of Turkey and detects a change in the price effect. Unlike the strong empirical evidence of positive feedback trading in the finance literature, negative feedback trading is detected in the ISE, but only for the period before the start of EU accession negotiations. Using monthly data, any feedback trading could not be detected for the period after.

To analyze and compare service quality in the commercial banking sector of a small island economy – Cyprus and to investigate the relationship between overall bank customer satisfaction in the Turkish‐ and Greek‐speaking areas of Cyprus and positive word‐of‐mouth about their banks.

A total of 268 commercial bank customers responded to a Greek and Turkish translated version of the SERVQUAL instrument. After descriptive and factor analysis, multivariate regression was used to estimate the impact of service quality dimensions on overall customer satisfaction and word of mouth.

The responsiveness dimension failed to load and thus the SERVQUAL scale proved to be of a four‐dimensional structure in this study. Research results revealed that the expectations of bank customers in both areas were not met and that the largest gap was found in the empathy dimension. The assurance dimension had the largest influence on customer satisfaction and overall satisfaction of bank customers in both areas of Cyprus had a positive effect on their word‐of‐mouth.

There were some difficulties in conducting interviews in the Greek‐speaking area of Cyprus and this may have limited the potential sample size. Future research could test the generalizability of findings in other small island economies and look at how the service is delivered by frontline employees.

Helps banks in both areas of Cyprus to redefine their corporate image to one that is customer‐focused and driven by service quality. Findings are also significant for the Turkish‐speaking area which is not at the same level of economic development as its neighbours in the south and needs to restructure its banking system before accession to the EU.

This study investigates service quality in a small island economy. There is disparity in the banking sector of a divided Cyprus, where banks in the South have undergone significant restructuring before EU accession and banks in the North are affected by the economic crisis and need to restructure if they want to join the EU.

This paper aims to investigate the possible co‐integration and the direction of causality between financial development, international trade and economic growth in India.

Annual data covering the 1965‐2004 period have been used to investigate co‐integration and Granger causality tests between financial development, international trade, and growth after employing unit root tests to see if the variables under consideration are stationary.

Results reveal that there is a long‐run equilibrium relationship between financial development, international trade and real income growth in the case of India. Furthermore, unidirectional causality was investigated that runs from real income to exports and imports, from exports to imports, M2 and domestic credits, from M2 to imports, from imports to domestic credits. Bidirectional causality has also been obtained between real income and M2, and between real income and domestic credits. Finally, no direction of causality has been obtained between M2 and domestic credits.

Expanded data can be used for further comparison.

This study has shown that the supply‐leading and the demand‐following hypotheses cannot be inferred for the Indian economy alone themselves. And furthermore, the export‐led and the import‐led hypotheses again cannot be inferred for the Indian economy based on the sample period, 1965‐2004.

This study is the first of its kind which investigates the possible co‐integration and the direction of causality between the financial development, international trade and economic growth triangle not only in the case of India but also in the relevant literature to the best of one's knowledge.

The purpose of this research is to develop and compare some determinants of service quality in both the public and private hospitals of Northern Cyprus. There is considerable lack of literature with respect to service quality in public and private hospitals.

Randomly, 454 respondents, who have recently benefited from hospital services in Famagusta, were selected to answer a modified version of the SERVQUAL Instrument. The instrument contained both service expectations and perceptions questions.

This study identifies six factors regarding the service quality as perceived in both public and private Northern Cyprus hospitals. These are: empathy, giving priority to the inpatients needs, relationships between staff and patients, professionalism of staff, food and the physical environment. Research results revealed that the various expectations of inpatients have not been met in either the public or the private hospitals

At the micro level, the lack of management commitment to service quality in both hospital settings leads doctors and nurses to expend less effort increasing or improving inpatient satisfaction. Hospital managers should also satisfy their employees, since job satisfaction leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, hospital administrations need to gather systematic feedback from their inpatients, establish visible and transparent complaint procedures so that inpatients' complaints can be addressed effectively and efficiently.

The hospitals need to organize training sessions based on the critical importance of service quality and the crucial role of inpatient satisfaction in the health care industry. Future studies should include the remaining regions in Cyprus in order to increase research findings' generalizability. Additionally, including other dimensions such as hospital processes and discharge management and co‐ordination may provide further insights into understanding inpatients' perceptions and intentions.

To measure the size of underground economy and the amount of tax evasion in Cyprus by employing monetary and non‐monetary approaches over the period 1960‐2003 and to compare the Cyprus figures with some European experience existing in the literature.

Annual data covering the 1960‐2003 period were applied to several approaches for measuring the size of underground economy and the amount of tax evasion in Cyprus. These approaches are: employment discrepancy; simple currency ratio; transaction and currency demand.

On the basis of the results obtained from this study: firstly, in Cyprus the average ratio of the underground economy and tax evasion to official GDP is estimated at 9.41 and 0.31 percent of GDP respectively for the study period, and secondly, in the two time intervals where Cypriots figures are internationally comparable with the often quoted EU underground economy figures, the figures for Cyprus are estimated as 5.96 percent of GDP in 1994‐95 and 5.67 percent of GDP in 1996‐97 whereas the figures for some European Union (EU) members are 18.05 percent of GDP in 1994‐95 and 18.76 percent of GDP in 1996‐97.

Findings of this study suggest that the issue of the underground economy is still in need of further investigation, firstly, to reach reliable results since each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses and yield different results, secondly, to find out the best method selection on a well‐established theory, and finally, to employ reliable data estimating measurement.

Both EU and Cypriot authorities can utilize this study to analyse the extent of Cypriot underground economy with respect to the other EU members. Such attempts can be useful in developing policies and implementing actions and measures to eliminate underground economy activities.

This study is the first of its kind with recent data to measure the size of underground economy and tax evasion for the Cypriot economy by employing various approaches.