Effects of geographical characteristics in Turkey on the socio-economic development level of the cities

In this study, the geographical factors affecting socio-economic development level of the cities in Turkey was analyzed using Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) method. In the analysis, the extent of heterogeneous effects and geographical externalities on socio-economic development level was questioned. Basic databases were obtained from Türkiye Istatistik Kurumu and the data from the years 2003 and 2011 were used. In the empirical analysis conducted with two time sets, the effect of the factors affecting socio-economic development level was tested seperately using Geographically Weighted Regression. Results showed, the decline in the socio-economic level from west to east within Turkey is related with the externality created by neighborhood relations. The socio-economic level differences among cities is observed to be declined but it is determined that this decline is due to decrease in the socio-economic level of the relatively highly-developed cities. Keywords: Socio-economic Development, Economic Geography, Spatial Econometrics, Geographically Weighted Regression