Privatization and regional distribution of manufacturing in Turkey

The state owned enterprises were crucial in the early stage of industrial development in Turkey. They were producer of basic consumption goods and contributed the building the entrepreneurial understanding, and hence the development of the private sector. State owned enterprises have played key role in almost all sectors of the Turkish economy, including manufacturing sectors and various infrastructural facilities. After 1980, the radical transformation has occurred in Turkish economic policies: The reform process included not only financial liberalization and trade reforms, but also the privatization of the state owned enterprises. Initially, starting from the second half of 1980s, international organizations have advocated privatization as a “must” policy tool. The paper explores the effects of privatization on regional growth of Turkish manufacturing. The analyses are carried out at regional basis in order to detect to what extent the public sector is complement to or substitute of the private sector. The findings show that privatization has no perverse effects on the development of the manufacturing activities in the traditional and new industrial zones. However, its effects are in opposite directions in the poor regions.Industrial policy, privatization, State Owned Enterprises, spatial distribution of manufacturing, shift-share analysis.

Price Convergence and Globalization: Evidence from Selected Countries

MENA countries have been confronted with major social, economic and political changes during the last two decades. During this period some emerging countries and transition economies also experienced similar transformation at varying degrees. The transformation of the economic system has affected not only relative domestic prices but also the gap between domestic and international price levels. The paper focuses on how deviation of domestic prices from international market prices is affected by openness in the selected countries. The difference between domestic and international price level is calculated by employing purchasing power parity (PPP). The factors that may have an effect on domestic-foreign price differences other than openness also are considered as control variables of the empirical analyses

Market Potential and Regional Disparities in Turkey

Regional disparity is one of the important characteristics of Turkish economy. The paper focuses on the explanatory power of market potential on the regional differences in Turkey. Regional divergences in wages and employment are used as the proxies for regional differences. Empirical results reveal that, under various specifications, variation in market potential is an important determinant of regional differences.