Economic Development and Regional Inequalities: An Empirical Investigation for Turkey, 1965-2001

Year 2012, Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 113 - 124, 01.12.2012

Doç.Dr. Lütfü Öztürk

Abstract

This paper examines relationship between economic development and regional inequality by considering geographical regions of Turkey. Willamson’ (1965) Inverted-U Hypothesis which suggested an increasing-decreasing regional inequality in the course of national development has been tested using quadratic forms. National per capita income as a development indicator and regional income dispersion as a measure for interregional inequality among regions have been investigated in the course of national industrialization - from the middle of the 1960s to the end of the 1990s. Furthermore, intraregional inequalities have been investigated using similar methodology for the same period. Consequently, it has been observed that interregional inequality increases associated with economic development but decreases in the latter stages of development. According to panel data results, intraregional inequalities in some developed regions have also  demonstrated the same trend in Turkey.

Keywords

Inverted-U Hypothesis; Regional Inequality; Economic Development; Spatial Income Distribution.

İktisadi Kalkınma ve Bölgesel Eşitsizlikler: Türkiye Üzerine Bir Uygulama, 1965-2001

Abstract

Bu çalışmada ekonomik kalkınma ile bölgesel eşitsizlik arasındaki ilişki Türkiye’nin coğrafi bölgeleri dikkate alınarak incelenmştir. İktisadi kalkınma sürecinde bölgesel eşitsizliğin önce arttığı daha sonra azladığını iddia edenWilliamson’un ters U hipotezi kuadratik formlar kullanılarak test edilmiştir. Kalkınma göstergesi olarak kişi başına gelir ve bölgeler arasındaki eşitsizliği ölçmek için kullanılan eşitsizlik indeksleri 1960’ların ortalarından 1990’ların sonlarına kadarki dönem için araştırılmıştır. Ayrıca aynı dönem için yine aynı yöntem kullanılarak bölge-içi eşitsizlikler de irdelenmiştir. Sonuç olarak bölgeler arası eşitsizliklerin kalkınmanın ilk aşamalarında arttığı ancak sonraki aşamalarda azaldığı tespit edilmiştir. Panel veri sonuçlarına göre bölge içi eşitsizlilikler de benzer bir eğilim göstermektedir.

Keywords

Ters U Hipotezi, Bölgesel Eşitsizlik, İktisadi Kalkınma, Alansal Gelir Dağılımı

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