Investigation of competitiveness in international trade by econometric and statistical approaches: The case of Turkish manufacturing industry

In this thesis, the competitiveness of the Turkish manufacturing industry in international trade is examined with econometric and statistical approaches. The aim is to determine which factors affect competitiveness positively and which factors negatively affect it. For this purpose, binary logit model and explanatory factor analysis are used. The data used in the analyzes are the data of the Turkish manufacturing industry regarding the four-digit ISIC (Rev. 4) classification. Revealed comparative advantage indicator derived from these data has been made the dependent variable of binary logit model while theoretical variables (factors) obtained by explanatory factor analysis have been made as independent variables of the mentioned model. In the process of interpretating and naming the theoretical variables obtained by explanatory factor analysis, it is inspired by studies in the field of competitiveness in international trade. As a result of such a study, it is hoped that the possibilities of making inferences about the competitiveness of the Turkish manufacturing industry in international trade will be increased.