Winners and losers of rapid growth in Turkey: Analysis of the spatial variability of convergence

Abstract

This paper investigates spatial variability of regional convergence for the 2004-2017 period in Turkey. Results from neoclassical convergence model which are robust to inclusion of a spatial battery points out the existence of convergence. However, additional results highlight that regional convergence is spatially heterogeneous. While underdeveloped regions exhibit higher convergence, convergence speed is not distributed evenly among these underdeveloped eastern regions. These findings point out that, last epoch of Turkish transformation fails to have equity enhancing effects at local level, rather there are winners and losers of the rapid growth of 2000s.