Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the customer attitude on Halal food products and determine major factors that affect the attitudes towards Halal food products in Azerbaijan. Within the framework of this research, theory of planned behavior was applied and influence of subjective norms, religiosity level, availability of Halal certification and health considerations on attitude toward Halal food products was measured. Design/methodology/approach Random sampling technique was used during these studies. Within the framework of current research, the local Muslim population was surveyed. The sample size for current research was 636, and specified models were estimated using Eview by applying a robust least squares method. Findings The impact of subjective norms, religiosity level and availability of Halal certification and health considerations upon consumer’s attitude is economically and statistically significant. Empirical findings show that the strength of the association between religiosity level and attitude toward Halal food products is dependent on the level of religiosity and some other factors such as age category, gender status and existence of halal certification. Practical implications As a predominantly Muslim country, exploring attitudes toward Halal food products in Azerbaijan can serve as a valuable source of information while developing Halal branding strategy in this market, i.e. insights gaining from this research will guide marketers while tailoring their marketing strategy for efficiently targeting this market. Originality/value This is the first empirical research in Azerbaijani market devoted to understanding factors that influence Halal food purchase attitude.

This paper analyses the impact of public expenditures and tax revenues on non-oil economic growth in Azerbaijan for the period of 2000Q1-2015Q2 by employing OLS, ARDL, FMOLS, DOLS, CCR and Granger Causality techniques. Different cointegration methods result in consistent results. In this study, there is strong evidence of significant long-run positive contributions from public expenditures to non-oil sector output. Results also show that tax revenues significantly slow down non-oil economic growth in the long run. Granger Causality analysis finds the existence of a bidirectional short-run association between non-oil GDP and public expenditures, while tax revenues Granger Cause both variables. The research findings should be useful for Azerbaijan fiscal policy makers to consider now and in the future. Current plans in Azerbaijan for both public expenditure cuts and tax revenue increases are likely to cause contraction in the Azerbaijan's non-oil sector GDP.

Purpose This paper aims to reveal major factors affecting housing prices (flats and houses) in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan Republic. Design/methodology/approach Based on cross-sectional data set of 497 flats and 443 houses, polynomial regression models are estimated for flats and houses separately. Regression models are estimated by using ordinary least squares. Findings Location, largeness, repair level and existence of bill of sale are major price determinants for flats. For houses, number of rooms also matters. Findings reveals that houses are land intensive (more floors, less land area) toward city center, and vice versa. Price difference due to existence of bill of sale diminishes significantly toward the surrounding areas. Research limitations/implications The data set represents view of sellers and does not take into consideration price bargaining in time of sale; probability of information asymmetries exists which not could accounted for, and urgency of sale is not considered. Practical implications Estimation results can be used for housing valuation by real estate market participants and investors. Social implications Research findings reveal importance of bill of sale as a major price determinant and expected to attract policymakers’ attention to solve such a big social problem. Additionally, models can be based for price estimations in Baku housing market. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by empirically analyzing housing market in Baku, Azerbaijan. Research produces new practically valuable findings.

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Forecasting tax revenues is an important issue in budget planning. As a resource rich country, Azerbaijan's budget revenues is severely depend on oil price and production levels. This study investigates oil sector dependency of state budget tax revenues in case of Azerbaijan by employing FMOLS, DOLS and CCR cointegration methods for the period of 2000Q1 -2015Q2. Empirical results indicate statistically and economically significant positive long-run impact of both oil related factors on tax revenues. Considering current fiscal challenges in the country, research findings are very useful for policy purposes and fills the gap in the literature by drawing mechanism of the association and estimating the relationship empirically.

ABSTRACT.Using country-level data from 2000-2013, we test the relationship between life satisfaction (measured as how people evaluate their life as a whole rather than their current feelings) and the motivation to work (measured as aggregate hours of work). Our hypothesis is that even after controlling for average labor income tax rates in countries with high and low average hours worked, there is a significant negative association between the motivation to work and life satisfaction. The main findings of this paper are that the increase in the motivation to work per employee comes at the expense of life satisfaction, and differences in average tax rates on labor income cannot account for differences in time allocation. Once life satisfaction is included, the hypotheses of previous neoclassical economic studies are almost irrelevant in determining the response of market hours to higher average tax rates on labor income. In line with our assumption, we find a negative relationship between life satisfaction and the motivation to work in the cross-country examinations. In countries with the highest hours worked (Hungary, Estonia), wealth is generally preferred to leisure and in countries with the lowest hours worked (France, Germany), leisure is preferred to wealth. JEL Classification: H20, J01, J29

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The aim of this research is to test Wagner’s law and Keynesian hypothesis in 9 Post‑Soviet countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, and Ukraine. For this purpose, long‑ and short‑run causality between real per capita GDP and real per capita government expenditures are estimated by employing ARDL modelling approach. Estimation results support validity of Wagner’s law for Latvia, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine, and validity of Keynesian hypothesis for Estonia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Moldova in the long‑run. Meanwhile, research findings indicate strong bidirectional short‑run causality in all countries except Lithuania and Kyrgyz Republic in the short‑run.