Peer effects of dismissed German scholars in Turkish academia

This thesis investigates whether the arrival of international and more productive scientists can increase the productivity of local scientists in the context of a developing country. Specifically, the thesis examines the effects of German scientists, who escaped from Nazi Germany and resided in Turkey, on the productivity of Turkish scientists in the 1933-1945 period. The main estimates indicate that, holding the quality of German scholars constant, the number of German scholars in a department had a positive and statistically significant effect on the number of annual scientific publications of a Turkish scientist in that department. The findings also suggest that if local scientists are familiar with recent international research practices and have better language skills, they might benefit more from the interactions with international scientists in their departments.