Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-3-2021
Abstract
Turkish economy has experienced a policy shift from import-substitution to a widespread outward-oriented policy regime in 1980s. In this transition period, industrial sector has stood out as the leading in export-led growth policy. Trade openness coupled with export promotion strategies has reshaped business environment in Turkey and created new opportunities for local investors as well. Hence, this process had also considerable impacts in spatial distribution of industrial activities across Turkish regions. In this environment, some Turkish provinces have flourished a salient economic performance since 1980s that led them to be called by a colloquial term Anatolian Tigers, by associating their success to the fast-growing East Asian Tigers. On the one hand, the success story of Anatolian Tigers popularized by politicians and the printed media, was to a large extent based on the export performance of these provinces . On the other, scholarly research approached rather cautiously to this phenomenon admitting that what gives Anatolian provinces “Tiger” reputation lies behind their growth records in industrial sector and especially their increasing weight in manufacturing in 1990’s . As documented in Filiztekin and Tunalı (1999), the growth rate of value added and employment has been remarkable in Anatolian Tigers over the 1981- 1993 period, despite constituting a very small portion of the Turkish manufacturing. However, they further show that this notable growth patterns did not translate into productivity improvements.
Journal Title
Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies
ISSN
2334-282X
Publisher
Middle East Economic Association and Loyola University Chicago
Volume
23
Issue
1
Recommended Citation
Filiztekin, Alpay and Kent, Oya, "Anatolian Tigers: Then and Now". Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies, electronic journal, 23, 1, Middle East Economic Association and Loyola University Chicago, 2021, http://www.luc.edu/orgs/meea/
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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s), 2021
Comments
Presentation of the articles in the Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies was made possible by a limited license granted to Loyola University Chicago and Middle East Economics Association from the authors who have retained all copyrights in the articles.