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Turkey's experience with neoliberal policies since 1980 in retrospect and prospect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2015

Fikret Şenses
Fikret Şenses*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey, fsenses@metu.edu.tr
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Abstract

This paper provides a critical assessment of Turkey's economic performance under the neoliberal economic policies which have been instrumental in generating a profound transformation in its socioeconomic structure since 1980. The paper draws special attention to the government's loss of policy autonomy and the democratic deficit at the initial and implementation stages of this transformation. It then evaluates Turkey's economic performance on the basis of indicators with medium and long-term impacts, such as investment, saving, industrialization, unemployment, and income distribution. This assessment shows that the neoliberal model has failed to fulfill its promises, with the Turkish economy failing to achieve performance equal to that under the previous import-substitution strategy or in comparable countries. The paper then identifies the main problem areas confronting the economy: the current account deficit, the labor market, insufficient industrial progress and income distribution, and poverty. To solve these problems, it calls for both a radical rethinking of the neoliberal policy regime and for proactive state intervention to stimulate saving and investment as part of a new development strategy, giving primary importance to industrialization, employment creation, and more equitable income distribution.

Keywords

Neoliberalismdemocracypoverty and income distributionindustrialization strategyrole of the statenew international economic order
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 47: Special Issue on Turkey's Experience with Neoliberal Policies and Globalization , Fall 2012 , pp. 11 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © New Perspectives on Turkey 2012

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