Growth and Demography in Turkey: Economic History vs. Pro-Natalist Rhetoric

M. Aykut Attar ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper projects the effects of exogenous fertility changes in Turkey on the age structure of population and the standards of living using a semi-reduced-form model of economic growth and demographic change. Both the technological progress and the fertility rate are endogenous. The calibrated version of the model delivers three important results: First, technological progress will be the major source of economic growth in Turkey in the upcoming decades. Second, even with a non-declining saving rate, the population aging will result in a growth slowdown since technological progress is not fast enough in Turkey. Third, even under an increasing rate of technological progress, a permanent upward shift in fertility levels would imply, relative to the benchmark, a significantly lower level of output per capita, a remarkably higher level of dependent population, and a persistently lower share of the working-age population for many decades. These results suggest that the priority of policy-makers in Turkey should be technological progress. The pro-natalist rhetoric, even if it proves to be strong enough to persuade the people of Turkey to have more children in the near future, does not have any economic significance.

Keywords: fertility; population aging; population policy; technological progress. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C63 E17 O11 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-05-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-ara, nep-dem and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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