Optimality of Public Capital in Turkey: A Regional Analysis

Year 2010, Volume: 9 Issue: 3, 533 - 551, 01.12.2010

Lütfi Erden Hatice Karaçay Çakmak

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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