This study analyzes convergence among regions of Turkey from an endogenous
growth perspective. The results show that human capital, which is
represented with R&D personnel, has a negative impact on economic growth in
the regions based on its percentage in total employment. Moreover, we find
that there is an estimated U-shaped relationship, which implies that if the
percentage of R&D personnel in total employment increases after a certain
level, the effect has a tendency of turning positive; the west region is
especially closer to having a positive effect. However, regarding
convergence, the relatively high-income west is closer to experiencing the
positive effect of R&D personnel. Moreover, due to the relatively low
percentage of R&D personnel in the east region, the economic growth of the
east region is more negatively affected by R&D personnel. Therefore, using a
strategy that is based on increasing the percentage of R&D personnel cannot
help the east region to close the differences in income.