A Comparative Spatial Analysis of the Possible Effects of Economic Crisis in Greece and Russia on Provinces in Turkey

Abstract

After 2008 global financial crisis some Europe countries which have excessive debt burden especially Greece, Iceland, Spain etc. effected negatively more than the others. On the other hand decrease in oil prices effected negatively some exporter countries for instance Russia, Venezuela etc. in this period. Greece and Russia are neighbor countries that has significant role on Turkey’s foreign trade. In this aspect, it has been occurred some potential risks for provinces in Turkey which exporting to Greece and Russia. This study aims to examine the possible effects of Greek and Russian economic crisis for provinces of Turkey by using spatial data and techniques. To identify risky areas first, it is created different choropleth maps of Turkey by using province based export data in particular Greece and Russia. Second, spatial dimensions of potential risks are discussed. To test spatial dimensions of the variables, we perform an exploratory spatial data analysis on export values for provinces of Turkey. While our choropleth maps indicate that the some part of the country is significantly more related to foreign trade of the countries than the others, the tools of spatial statistics reveal the presence of spatial dependence across provinces. The presence of heterogeneity is reflected in the distribution of LISA statistics. Overall, this paper is original in terms of analyzing spatial dimensions of a current economic issue for provinces across Turkey.