Ozan Bakis

Structural Change and Industrial Policy in Turkey

ABSTRACT We present evidence on structural change in Turkey and provide an overview of the evolution of industrial policy in the past three decades Turkey has experienced substantial growth in labor productivity in the past decade. About two-thirds of the increase in aggregate labor productivity arises from reallocation of employment from low- to high-productivity sectors and one-third from productivity increases within sectors. Decomposition of productivity growth using microdata also reveals an important contribution from reallocation. We also document substantial change in the composition of exports. We argue that structural change was not a direct result of selective industrial policy simply because the incentive system displayed little sectoral selectivity during the period when major structural change took place.

Quantile Estimates for Social Returns to Education in Turkey: 2006-2009

Augmenting a Mincerian earnings function with regional data we estimate both private and external returns to education in Turkey using Instrumental Variables, Ordinary Least Squares, Quantile Regression and Instrumental Variables Quantile Regression methods. Our results indicate a median external return between 1.5% and 2.3% for 2006–2009. There is some evidence supporting the skill-biased technical change hypothesis. External returns are uniformly higher for women. We point out some policy implications.

The impact of device in social networking: an explorative study with Turkish social network site users on the nature of interactions through personal computers and smartphones*

The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of interactions that develops around social networks through two major device categories: PC and smartphones. This study specifically aims to focus on the reasons for the preference of PC and smartphones distinctively and tries to reveal the significant patterns of usage for social networking through both platforms. This quantitative research employs a survey conducted with a sample of 203 Turkish people who are using PCs and smartphones for accessing social networking sites regularly.