Independent regulatory agencies in Turkey within the framework of transaction costs theory

The aim of this study is to analyze independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) in Turkey from the perspective of transaction costs theory. In this respect, first of all a large literature scanning has been made regarding transaction costs theory. The concepts of "transaction" and "transaction cost" have been discussed with respect to IRAs. Critics about transaction costs theory and ampirical studies regarding the theory have also been explained. An important contribution of the thesis is to analyze the transaction costs specific to IRAs by dividing into subcategories from the viewpoint of transaction costs theory. In this context, transaction costs related to IRAs are discussed under the titles of costs arising from regulatory commitment, political transaction costs, transaction costs stemming from regulatory capture of IRAs as a result of time cycles and transaction costs that emerge in the regulatory process. Another contribution of the thesis is to analyze transaction costs of IRAs currently operating in Turkey under the specific conditions of our country. At this point, the problem of regulatory commitment in Turkey; political transaction costs analyzed under the subtitles of how these institutions are perceived by the governments, discussions made at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, point of view of the EU towards IRAs in Turkey as a supranational institution, sources created in order to finance IRAs in Turkey and interventions to the delegation of authority to IRAs; operational costs of IRAs and how these institutions are located in the central administration budget are discussed. In this way, the realisation of the costs of these institutions to the public and central budget are analyzed. Finally, the thesis puts forth transaction costs in the Turkish banking sector in a concrete way and presents a road map suggesting a methodology that can be adapted by Turkish IRAs to the relevant sectors that they regulate in order to calculate transaction costs and to assess their results.