Browsing by Subject "Regional development"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Open Access
The contribution of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation organisation to regional development
(Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2002) Sayan, S.
Prior to the disintegration in the late 1980s of the Soviet bloc and then the Soviet Union itself, most of the economies in eastern Europe were members of CMEA/COMECON (the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance) that was formed to divert trade away from the market economies in the west.1 The development, under Soviet planning, of strong input-output linkages between industries in different countries/republics led to a signifi- cant degree of complementarity between member economies. This complementarity successfully diverted trade away from non-members, facilitating the maintenance of high degrees of in-bloc self-sufficiency. The feasibility of barter trade between members also contributed to this process by helping these countries overcome their hard currency constraints (Gultekin and Mumcu, 1996). Following the collapse of the Soviet bloc and hence of CMEA, the ex-Soviet republics gained independence while the formerly so- cialist nations of eastern Europe became exposed to competition for global markets amongst the market economies. A considerable portion of trade in these markets was controlled by regional trade blocs. So, when Turkey - then perceived to be a regional power with a relatively well-functioning market economy - called for the formation of a regional economic co-operation zone between the countries around the Black Sea in 1990, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Russia imme- diately responded by sending representatives to Ankara, Turkey to discuss the project.
Open Access
Political connection, bank credits and growth: evidence from Turkey
(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2011) Onder, Z.; Ozyildirim, S.
The pervasive existence of government-owned banks in emerging economies is often justified by their provision of access to credit in remote and underdeveloped regions that are ignored by private banks. This paper analyses whether credits provided by government-owned and private banks have a significant role in regional growth and whether this role changes in politically connected areas in Turkey. Our findings imply that private banks significantly improve the economic well-being in all Turkish provinces regardless of their development level or their political connection with the ruling party. However, credits by government-owned banks are found to be positively related to the per capita growth rate only in the less developed provinces that are advocates of the ruling political party and also developed but not politically connected provinces. These results suggest that government-owned bank credits, as implied by the political view, are used for funding politically desirable projects or politically connected borrowers.