The effect of the export policies implemented between 1996 -2016 on the competitive power ( Turkey example)

Growth in the volume of international trade accompanies the competition phenomenon, which leads countries to determine the goods that they will specialize and measure their competitive power. Although there are a number of methods to measue competitive power of the countries, the measurement of reveal comparative advantage (RCA), which was introduced by Liesner (1958) and later developed by Balassa in 1965, was applied in this study. The time range of the study was limited to 1996 to 2016. The impact of the export policies implemented in the said time period was examined with the European Union because of being Turkey's major trade partner; with Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and with Latin American countries because of standing out as an alternative market in recent years. The top exporting country in each mentioned region was taken in order to carry out the index calculations. The findings of the study indicate that Turkey has a comparative advantage against Germany in raw-material–intensive and labor-intensive industries; however, she has a comparative disadvantage in all sectors excluding easy-to-imitate and difficult-to-imitate R&D intensive industries and some sectors of capital intensive industry. In Turkey and Brazil comparison, it seems that Brazil has a high comparative advantage over Turkey in raw material and manifacturing industries. However, it could be said that Turkey has a comparative advantage against Brazil in labor-intensive industry in general terms. In the other industry groups, on the other hand, advantageous and disadvantegous positions differ within the sector basis and over the years. A comparison of the two countries, Turkey and United Arab Emirates (UAE), in terms of factor intensity reveals that Turkey has a general comparative advantage over the UAE in all industry groups excluding products that are distilled from No. 3 mineral oil and crude oil etc. Keywords: Export Policies, Competitive Power, Balassa Index, Revealed Comparative Advantages