The Impact of the Export-Led Growth Model On Regional Inequalities in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims to examine how Turkey's spatial pattern has changed as a result of its economic growth strategy based on trade openness. There are two basic approaches to understanding the spatial effects of economic integration. First, it is argued that, especially in parallel with the improvement in transportation infrastructure, companies tend to move toward peripheral areas where labor and land costs are lower. This repositioning is expected to reduce inequality between regions. The second approach contends that openness to foreign trade would widen the gap between regions because it argues that openness forces firms to locate in border areas or coastal regions to reduce transportation costs or to have better access to the foreign market. In addition, companies tend to benefit from agglomeration economies by collaborating with other companies in the same sector. When the change in the spatial pattern of Turkey, which adopted economic liberalization in 1980, is analyzed, analysis reveals that economic integration has caused economic divergence, leading to industry, labor, and infrastructure concentration in already developed regions, and consequently increased interregional inequalities (Falc?o?lu & Akgüngör, 2008; Gezici & Hewings 2007).

Keyword: economic integration, trade openness, manufacturing industry, spatial concentration, regional Inequalities.