The Effectiveness of Regional Development Policies: An Application on Sub-Regions of Turkey

Since the establishment of republic of turkey, regional development has taken place in the privileged issue of all governments. especially after beginning of the planned period in the 1960s, the policies aiming to ensure balanced development between regions have been increased. this study aims to determine the effectiveness on regional employment of regional development policies in turkey. the study has included 12 regions according to nuts-1 based on data for 2007-2012 periods. the effectiveness of regional development policies in these regions has been estimated by using data envelopment analysis (dea) method. inputs in the dea analysis include total public investment and breakdown of investment incentive certificates according to fixed investments (general investments). outputs are regional employment data on agriculture, industry and service sector. according to results, efficiency measurement has displayed inequality among regions and years. however, the west regions has generally been found to have higher efficiency. the results of turkey have showed that the employment gap causing inefficiencies has been largely derived from employment in agriculture sector.