I am the Acting General Manager of Product Management and Senior Economic Advisor for labor markets and research at the National Labor Observatory (NLO) in Saudi Arabia. I have previously worked as an Associate Professor of Economics at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Business School, as a researcher at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Saudi Arabia and as an Associate Professor of Economics at Ozyegin University, Istanbul. I have been a consultant for the World Bank and the Energy Exchange Istanbul. I also served as the director of the TUSIAD-Ozyegin University Sustainable Development Forum between 2018-2020 and as the Rapporteur of the Turkish Ministry of Development Special Commission Report -“Savings and Consumption Trends in Turkey”- as a part of the 11th Development Plan of the Republic of Turkey in 2018. I hold a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Pittsburgh.
Selected Academic Publications
“What is the source of the intergenerational correlation in earnings?”, George-Levi Gayle, Limor Golan and Mehmet Soytas, Journal of Monetary Economics,129, 24-45 (2022). Link
“Estimation of Dynastic Lifecycle Discrete Choice Models”, George-Levi Gayle, Limor Golan and Mehmet Soytas, Quantitative Economics, 9(3), 1195–1241 (2018). Link
“Intergenerational Mobility and the Effects of Parental Education, Time Investment, and Income on Children’s Educational Attainment”, George-Levi Gayle, Limor Golan and Mehmet Soytas, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 100(3), 281-295 (2018). Link
"Sustainability Outcomes in Multi-tier Supply Chains: An Empirical Study of Turkish Manufacturing Firms”, Damla Durak-Usar and Mehmet A. Soytas, International Journal of Production Research, 61 (14), 4625–4656 (2023). Link
“Estimation of Static Corporate Sustainability Interactions”, Mehmet Soytas, Damla Durak Usar and Meltem Denizel, International Journal of Production Research, 60 (4), 1245-1264 (2022). Link
"The Pacifying Effect of Energy Dependence on Interstate Conflict: A Large-N Analysis", Osman Zeki Gokce, Emre Hatipoglu and Mehmet A. Soytas, Energy Research and Social Science, Volume 78, 102133 (2021). Link
“Addressing Endogeneity in the Causal Relationship between Sustainability and Financial Performance”, Mehmet Ali Soytas, Meltem Denizel and Damla Durak Usar, International Journal of Production Economics, 210, 56–71 (2019). Link
Selected Reports at the National Labor Observatory (https://nlo.gov.sa/)
Recent Working Papers
“What Accounts for the Racial Gap in Time Allocation and Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital?”, George-Levi Gayle, Limor Golan and Mehmet Soytas (2018). [R&R at the Journal of Political Economy] Link
“Intergenerational Income Mobility and Income Taxation”, Musab Kurnaz and Mehmet A. Soytas. (2021). [R&R at the Quantitative Economics] Link
“Environmental consequences of geopolitical crises: The case of economic sanctions and emissions”, Emre Hatipoglu, Mehmet A. Soytas, Fateh Belaid, Resources Policy. (2023). [Accepted for Publication]
During my academic and think tank career, I have had several research projects funded, authored numerous articles in the fields of labor economics, economic policy and corporate sustainability, organized workshops, gave talks at many prestigious universities, research institutions and central banks, supervised Ph.D. dissertations, and presented at major economic conferences. I have taught courses on labor economics, microeconomics, econometrics, statistics, managerial economics, and managerial statistics. I acted as a referee for many national/international journals, and European and Turkish science foundation grants. I have also been a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis, Turkish Central Bank, University of Pittsburgh, Australian National University and King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center.