The second revised and expanded edition of the book titled The Structure of the Turkish Economy: Problems, Fragilities and Crisis Dynamics by Prof. Dr. Özgür Orhangazi, one of the faculty members of our Economics Department, has been published.
Addressing the main problems of the Turkish economy within their historical and global context, the book presents the problems, vulnerabilities and crisis dynamics of the economy in a way that even non-economists can understand. In the words of Prof. Dr. Korkut Boratav, Özgür Orhangazi’s book is “a very important resource for anyone who wants to understand the recent past of the Turkish economy, the deadlocks and problems of the neoliberal era.”
From the back cover article by Prof. Dr. Korkut Boratav:
In his book, Özgür Orhangazi closely examines the transformation of the Turkish economy in the neoliberal period; he sheds light on its structural problems, vulnerabilities, and crisis dynamics. Of course, he does not start from “scratch”. In the background, there is the transition of the world economy from Keynesian regulations to neoliberalism. The effects and shocks that this great transformation has brought to the protectionist, planning, and interventionist Turkish economy are in question. The book begins by examining the stages of this past in the world and in Turkey.
Orhangazi pays special attention to a critical phase of the neoliberal period: 1989, when capital movements were liberalized. The following years are the story of fragilities and deteriorations that have been exacerbated and carried over to the present day.
This story unfolds within the economy’s increasing dependence on external resources. Its striking consequences and ramifications are traced and analyzed in detail: four “lost” years, crises, external deficits and debts, construction-led growth, “early deindustrialization”, the course of the wage share within increasing proletarianization…
The balance sheet of the 2013-2019 reflection of the financial cycles originating from the center of the world economy on Turkey is included at the end of the book. The AKP government will lose its means of defense against external turmoil; step by step, it will carry the economy to the currency crisis of 2018, to a shrinking economy; it will be helpless between policy options.
In my opinion, Özgür Orhangazi’s book will be a very important resource for anyone who wants to understand the recent past of the Turkish economy and the dilemmas and problems of the neoliberal era.