Global

Immersion Program

Economic Growth and Financial Stability in Turkey

Fall 2012

Boahan elen

Teaching Assistant
602 Uris Hall

212-854-7209
Aziza Jamgerchinova
bc2132@columbia.edu
ajamgerchinova13@gsb.columbia.edu


Located where the east meets the west, Turkey is a country poised for growth. Coming off a
landslide election which will keep the sitting president at the helm, there are many
questions that await. Will the reining party work to revise a constitution considered to be
out of date? Six years into its bid to become a member of the European Union, discussions
are still uncertain and full membership elusive. Will Turkey relent to the requested
domestic reforms to gain full membership into the EU? After an impressive grown of 8.9%
in 2010, growth is expected to slow to 6% in 2011 and 4.5% in 2012; what political and
economic factors will contribute to this growth? Will the financial stability affecting the EU
affect the Turkish economy? Will they be affected by the political instability wracking so
many of their Middle Eastern neighbors? The course will explore these challenging
questions and other issues related to doing business with and in Turkey.
The course will consist of three classes in New York City that will introduce this complex
environment. A week-long visit to Istanbul will include visits to companies addressing the
challenges of managing firms in the region, across a variety of sectors. Students will
undertake projects that focus on a particular industry or firm and, through corporate visits
and additional research, analyze the relationships between firm strategy and local context
in this fascinating country.
This class will meet during the B-term on the following Thursdays, 4:00-7:00pm October
25, November 29 and December 6. Travel will take place to Istanbul, Turkey from
Sunday, January 13, 2013 through Saturday, January 19, 2013.
Global Immersion Program classes bridge classroom lessons and business practices in
another country. These three credit classes meet for half a term in New York prior to a one
week visit to the country of focus where students will meet with business executives and
government officials while working on team projects. Upon return from the travel portion
of the class, students will have at least one wrap up meeting at Columbia Business School.
The 2012-2013 Global Immersion Program fee for all classes is $1800 and provides
students with double occupancy lodging, ground transportation and some meals. It does
not cover roundtrip international airfare. Attendance both in New York and in-country and
regular participation are a crucial part of the learning experience and as such attendance is
mandatory. Students who miss the first class meeting may be removed from the course,
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Fall 2012

and will not have their program fee refunded to them. No program fee refunds will be given
after the add/drop period has closed.
Course Requirements and Assignments


Attendance

Attendance is mandatory. Failure to adhere to the attendance policy of the Global
Immersion Program could result in failure of the course.

Rules

The use of a laptop computer, blackberry, cell phone or other electronic
communication device during visits and lectures is not permitted.

Grading

The grade will be based on participation (40%), proposal presentation (20%) and a research
report (40%). Each student's participation will be evaluated with respect to the contribution that
student makes towards the entire class' learning experience, including corportae visits. In other
words, quality of contribution matters more than frequency of speech.
Each student is expected to write a research report. The report should be 8-12 pages long. The
students are encouraged to work in groups with at most 3 members. All the members of the
group will get the same grade on their work. The reports will be graded based on both by its
absolute quality and by its quality relative to all other reports in the class.
Students are free to choose any topic on Turkish economy and business environment provided
that it has been approved by the instructor. The following list provides some examples:
1. Macroeconomic Policy: Stability, Growth.
2. Political Economy, Political Business Cycles
3. Globalization, Foreign Trade Liberalization, Customs Union with the EU and FDI
4. Agriculture - Transformation of Agriculture
5. Labor Market, Labor Participation, Employment, Unemployment
6. Public Enterprises and Privatization Public
7. Competition and Regulation
8. Income Distribution and Poverty Equity versus growth
9. Informal (shadow, hidden) Economy
10. Gender issues in Turkish Economy
11. Impact of the 2008 Global Economic Crisis.

Each group (3 students per group) will give a presentation (on December 6) that
summarizes the preliminary research you will have done towards your final project. In
the presentation, you should describe the main question that you plan to address and
convince the audience about the importance and the relevance of this question. You are

Economic Growth and Financial Stability in Turkey

Fall 2012

also expected to explain how you plan to tackle the question. Each group will be
allocated at most 10 minutes.

Research projects are due on Friday, February 15, 2012. Please email your reports
to me at bc2132@columbia.edu by 5PM.

Reading List

There is no textbook for the course. The following academic papers will constitute the basis
for most of the class discussions/lectures.

0. Background

1. Turkeys Economy from 2001 to 2011: Stronger, Steadier and Safer, Turkish Review.
2. IFC Sustainable Investment Country Reports: Sustainable Investments in Turkey
2010.

1. Financial Crises and Relations with the IMF

1. Yeldan, E. (2006). Neoliberal Global Remedies: Speculative-led growth to IMF-led
crisis in Turkey, Review of Radical Political Economics, 38(2) pp. 193-213.
2. Akyz, Y. and K. Boratav (2003). The Making of the Turkish Financial Crises, World
Development, 31(9) pp. 1549-1566.
3. ni, Z. (2009). Beyond the 2001 Financial Crisis: The Political Economy of the
New Phase of Neo-liberal Restructuring in Turkey, Review of International Political
Economy, 16(3) pp. 409-432.
4. ni, Z. and A.B. Gven (2011). Global Crisis, National Responses: The Political
Economy of Delay and Divergence in Turkey, New Political Economy, (forthcoming).
5. Bakr, C. (2009).Wobbling but Still on Its Feet: the Turkish Economy in the Global
Financial Crisis, South European Society and Politics, 14 pp. 71-85.
6. ni, Z. (2010). Crises and Transformations in Turkish Political Economy, Turkish
Policy Quarterly, 9(3).
7. Uygur, E. (2010). The Global Crisis and the Turkish Economy, Third World
Network, Penang, Malaysia.

2. Turkish Politics and Economy

1. Pamuk, . (2009).Globalization, Industrialization and Changing Politics in Turkey,
New Perspectives on Turkey, 38, 267-273.
2. ni, Z. (2004). Turgut zal and His Economic Legacy: Turkish Neo-Liberalism in
Critical Perspective, Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 40, no. 4.
3. Bura, A. (2003). The Place of the Economy in Turkish Society, South Atlantic
Quarterly, 102(2-3) pp. 453-470.
4. Z. ni (2006). Globalization and Party Transformation: Turkeys Justice and
Development Party in Perspective, P. Burnell (ed.), Globalizing Politics, Party
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Fall 2012

Politics in Emerging Democracies, London.

3. Banking, Regulation, Privatization

1. Akn, G., A.F. Aysan and L. Yldran (2009). Transformation of the Turkish Financial
Sector in the aftermath of the 2001 Crisis, in ni and enses (eds.), Turkey and the
Global Economy.
2. Bakr C. and Z. ni (2010). The Regulatory State and Turkish Banking Reforms in
the Age of Post-Washington Consensus, Development and Change, 41(1).
3. Atiyas, . (2009). Recent Privatization Experience of Turkey: A Reappraisal, in ni
and enses (eds.), Turkey and the Global Economy.
4. kten, . (2006). Privatization in Turkey: What has been achieved?, in S. Altu and
A. Filiztekin (eds.), The Turkish Economy, Routledge.
5. Doruel, F. and A.S. Doruel (2011). Privatization and Regional Distribution of
Manufacturing in Turkey, Discussion Paper 2011/4, Turkish Economic Association,
Ankara.
6. ni, Z. (2011). Power, Interests and Coalitions: The Political Economy of Mass
Privatisation in Turkey, Third World Quarterly, 32(4), 707-724.

4. Social Dimensions, Growth and Development

1. Demir, O., M. Acar and M. Toprak (2004). Anatolian Tigers or Islamic Capital:
Prospects and Challenges, Middle Eastern Studies, 40, pp. 166-188.
2. ni, Z. and I. E. Bayram (2008). Temporary Star or Emerging Tiger? Turkeys
Recent Economic Performance in a Global Setting, Tusiad-Ko Economic Research
Forum, Working Paper No. 0805.
3. Bura, A. and . Keyder (2006). The Turkish Welfare Regime in Transformation,
Journal of European Social Policy, 16, pp. 211-228.
4. Pamuk, . (2008). Economic Change in Twentieth Century. Is the Glass More than
Half Full?, in R. Kasaba (ed.), Turkey in the Modern World.
5. Altu, S., A. Filiztekin and . Pamuk (2008). Sources of Long-Term Economic
Growth for Turkey, 1880 2005, European Review of Economic History, 12, pp. 393-
430.
6. Mutlu, S. (2011). The Economic Cost of Civil Conflict in Turkey, Middle Eastern
Studies, 47(1), 63-80.

5. Business Groups and Corporate Governance

1. Gken, N. and B. sdiken (2001). Uniformity and Diversity in Turkish Business
Groups: Effects of Scale and Time of Founding, British Journal of Management, 12,
325340.
2. Yamak, S. and and B. sdiken (2006). Economic Liberalization and the Antecedents
of Top Management Teams: Evidence From Turkish Big Business, British Journal of
Management, 17, 177194.
3. Karaevli, A. (2006). Strategic Change or Deja Vu? Why Do Business Groups Still
Unrelatedly Diversify in Emerging Markets? unpublished notes.
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Fall 2012

4. Ararat, M. and H. Orbay (2006). Corporate Governance in Turkey; Implications for

Investments and Growth, unpublished notes.

6. Current Account Balance

1. Kayk, F. (2011). Discussion on Sustainability of Current Account Deficits in
Turkey, International Research Journal of Finance and Economics, 74, pp. 106-113.
2. Kayk, F. (2012). Determinants of the Current Account Balance in Turkey: Vector
Auto Regression (VAR) Approach, African Journal of Business Management, 6(17),
pp. 5725-5736.
3. Akay, C. and M. er (2008). A Narrative on the Turkish Current Account, The
Journal of International Trade and Diplomacy, 2, pp. 211-238.

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Fall 2012