Analysis of Turkish Economy from Macroeconomic and Socio-political Perspective (1923-2023)

Abstract

The evaluation of economies provides an idea about the direction of countries and determines their international reputations. Economic evaluations hold significant importance for this reason. Evaluations often utilize macroeconomic indicators like real growth rate, unemployment rate, and inflation rate. On the other hand, to honestly evaluate economies, a long-term perspective is required, and it is vital to maintain continuity and have a broad scope. During this process, many factors, such as developments in the external world, geography, language, religion, ethnicity, and customary practices, can have an impact, in addition to macroeconomic factors. However, none of these (except for macroeconomic factors) have as much impact on the development of economies as the institutional factors that form the basis of the socio-political structure. As property rights, freedom of expression, press freedom, judicial independence, and equality of opportunities in the economic, social, and political fields expand in a country; experts anticipate that institutional quality will increase and positively impact economic operations. Findings indicate the necessity of conducting macroeconomic and socio-political performance measurements to evaluate the Turkish economy properly. For 1924-2023, a macroeconomic performance index (MPI) has established for measuring macroeconomic performance, and a socio-political performance index (SPI) for measuring socio-political performance. The findings obtained from the studies reveal that in Türkiye, more than ensuring only macroeconomic stability is necessary to achieve satisfactory and lasting economic success. Compromising fundamental rights, freedoms, and socio-economic justice (e.g., income distribution) has achieved stability, but only with temporary effects. The development structure and macroeconomic gains solidify the economic outlook through socio-political developments.