Socio-Economic Development of Provinces in Turkey: A Spatial Econometric Analysis

Differences in development between regions or provinces constitute major problem for all countries. Thus, studies, aimed at reducing the development differences among regions, are in progress around the world. Many studies have been carried out on development plans, regional development projects and investment incentives in order to eliminate developmental differences between regions in Turkey from past to present. In order to quantify the developmental differences between the provinces, it is necessary to calculate the socio-economic development indices of the provinces. For this purpose, various economic, physical and social indicators covering the years 2008 - 2015 of provinces in Turkey have been used in the study. Firstly, economic, physical and social development indices are calculated with equal weight to each indicator. Then, general development index is calculated by giving equal weight to all dimensions. The fact that socio-economic development indices of the provinces are similar in places close to each other shows that the development levels of the provinces can be affected with each other. For this reason, spatial econometric analysis method is preferred when the factors affecting the development levels of provinces are examined. In this study, different economic, physical and social indicators covering the years 2008-2015 are used in the spatial econometric model. With this study, it is investigated factors affecting development levels of provinces, whether the development levels of provinces are affected spatially each other and how the development levels of provinces are affected each other. According to the findings of this study, a study conducted in any province in order to eliminate regional development differences will not only increase the socio-economic development index of the province, but will also lead to the development of the socio-economic development index of the surrounding provinces