Optimality of Public Capital in Turkey: A Regional Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this study is to empirically investigate whether public capital is provided optimally both at the national and regional levels in Turkey. Our empirical work shows that public capital significantly contributes to the production of private manufacturing sector. Nonetheless, the findings also indicate that marginal productivity of public capital is smaller than that of private capital, suggesting that public capital is over-provided at the national level. At the regional level however, the picture is quite different. While public capital is over-provided for the provinces with high performance in terms of income, it is less-provided for the provinces with low performance. These results may be taken to interpret that there exists no “efficiency vs. equality” trade-off for public investment policy, and thus public investment as a regional policy ought to be used for distributional (equality) purposes in Turkey

Türkiye’de Kamu Sermayesinin Optimalliği: Bölgesel Bir Analiz

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı, Türkiye‟de, gerek ulusal gerek bölgesel düzeyde, kamu sermayesinin optimal düzeye ulaşıp ulaşmadığını ampirik yöntemlerle irdelemektir. Öncelikli olarak, yaptığımız çalışma, Türkiye‟de kamu sermayesinin özel imalat sektörünün üretimi üzerinde pozitif katkı yarattığını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Ancak, ele aldığımız dönem içinde kamu sermayesinin marjinal verimliliği, özel sektör sermayesinin marjinal verimliliğinden daha düşük çıktığından, tüm ekonomi için kamu sermayesinin optimal düzeyi aştığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Fakat, bu senaryo, bölgesel düzeydeki analizimiz için birebir geçerli olmamaktadır. Yüksek performanslı illerde kamu sermayesi optimal düzeyi aşarken, düşük performanslı illerde kamu sermayesinin optimalin altında sağlandığı tespit edilmiştir. Bu sonuç, uygulanacak kamu yatırım politikalarında “etkinlik-eşitlik açmazı” ile karşı karşıya kalınmayacağına ve dolayısıyla kamu yatırımlarının, bölgesel bir politika aracı olarak eşitlik ilkesi temelinde şekillendirilmesi gerektiğine işaret etmektedir.

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