The relationship of education and development: Case of TRA2 region

Achieving economic development is the primary goal of developing countries. Today, the human capital factor has become very important in the development of countries. In this framework, education, which is an element of human capital, and its effects on development are among the most studied topics among economists. It has been proven with the theoretical and empirical studies that education has positive effects on development. The purpose of this research is to examine the impacts of education in the TRA2 region including Ağrı, Kars, Iğdır and Ardahan provinces of Turkey on the development of the region. The thesis consists of three chapters. In the first part, the development is explained in terms of concept and content, and then the effects of education on development are analyzed theoretically. The second part explains which channels education affects development is explained theoretically and empirical studies demonstrating the relationship between education and development is investigated both in Turkey and the world context. In the third part, the effects of education in the TRA2 region on the development of the region are analyzed. In this context, the evaluation of the region in terms of education level and income is made from past to present and afterwards, the relationship between education and development is tested econometrically with the data using the number of graduates according to education level and the GDP per capita as a development indicator.