The impact of railway infrastructure on economic growth and population in Turkey

This study explores the empirical relationship between transportation infrastructure and two measures; demographic and economic activity. Railway lengths, population density and agricultural production at province level base used as datasets for transportation infrastructure, demographic and economic activity measures, respectively. The most important contribution of this study is related with the datasets, which should probably be the first example for the knowledge of the author in Turkey. Using province level panel data for Turkey, panel econometric methods are applied to investigate these relationships in time and space. Panel regression, panel unit root, panel cointegration and panel causality testing procedures are performed to sort out the linkage between measures for the sample period between 1856 and 2007. The relationship between transportation infrastructure and economic development measures is empirically analyzed for many different developed or industrialized regions. Besides, the relationship between transportation infrastructure and demographic measures is also investigated in the same way. This study provides an empirical process for Turkey as a developing and not industrialized country. Therefore, this is the second important contribution of this study. In addition, an extensive overview of the empirical literature, investigating the effects of transportation infrastructure on economic and demographic measures, is provided in this study. Furthermore, a brief history of the railway constructions and railway network expansion during the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey is also presented.