The impacts of transportation investment on Turkish economy at micro, macro and regional level: In a spatial computable general equilibrium model framework

This thesis develops a framework for economic analysis of highway projects in Turkey, estimating the economic effects of these projects on regional welfare and economic growth. The framework integrates a transport model with a multiregional Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. The CGE model is developed for eight sectors of eight macro regions plus three biggest cities, namely Istanbul Area, Ankara Area and Izmir Area. Three counterfactual experiments are developed based on decreases in transportation margins due to a 'distance shortening'. All simulation results show that highway investment program improves welfare for all regions but in different levels according to scenarios.