End of peace process equals disastrous effects on Turkey’s economy, political system: MIT economist
LONDON
“The peace process should continue in Turkey. The end of this process will be a disaster for both the political system and economy of the country. Additionally, the existence of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] is a big problem for Turkey and the whole region,” said Acemoğlu, a Turkish economist of Armenian descent living in the U.S. and working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He also said a number of changes and structural reforms need to be made to strengthen the Turkish economy’s base.
“Turkey’s economy could not grow in the last couple of years and we see private investments are weak in general. There is a growth trend mainly based on public demand. The rise of the public sector’s role in the economy, an increasing inflation rate and high current account deficit have all shown this. The quality of economic institutions plays a great role in maintaining healthier economic growth. Turkey’s quality of its institutions and judicial system as well as corruption level has recently been worsening,” he said.
He added Turkey needed to renew itself through speeding up structural reforms increasing productivity and strengthening the rule of law.
The maintenance of the independency of the Central Bank is of great importance, Acemoğlu said. “If the Central Bank loses its independency, Turkey’s economic institutions will be negatively affected.”
Economist Acemoğlu has topped the most influential economists list of the Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) for his last 10 years’ of publications out of 2,223 leading economists.
Acemoğlu’s name was even previously mentioned for the Nobel Prize. Recently, he has been popular because of his book, “Why Nations Fail,” co-authored with James Robinson.