The effects of foreign trade policy on economic growth : Evidence in Turkey

In the last decades; many studies try to understand the relation between the foreign trade policies, trade openness and economic growth. Conclusions of these studies are vary depending on the independent variables used in the model.The primary purpose of this paper is to make a critical examination of the trade policies and income level per capita in the Turkish economy over the last three decades (from1970 to 2006). This study consists of six main sections. These are respectively; Literature review, foreign trade policy in Turkey between 1970 and 2006, the concept and source of Neo-Classical growth model, trade policy and openness measures, empirical investigation and conclusion. Study employees 36 years time series data. At the end of the study, we report that although the openness of the economy have a positive effect in income per capita, tariffs and alternative openness measures are negatively correlated with income level.