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Administrative micro level datasets have become increasingly available in recent decades. As many economic mechanisms have heterogeneous responses from individuals or firms that are not readily apparent at the macro level, micro data have begun to be extensively used in policy making. The introduction of administrative data sets enables researchers and policy makers to understand and evaluate the consequences of economic and social policies. A number of steps have been taken to link large-scale administrative datasets in Turkey in recent years, most notably by the establishment of the Entrepreneurship Information System (EIS) under Ministry of Industry and Technology.

Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) and World Bank Group (WB) jointly organized a conference on “Drivers of Firm Performance in Turkey” with a particular focus on studies that employ the firm level EIS data. The conference gathered participants from public institutions, private sector and academia.

Conference began with the opening remarks of Deputy Governor Dr. Uğur Namık Küçük which was followed by the keynote speech of Ufuk Akçiğit (Chicago University). In the first part of his speech, Dr. Akçiğit presented the previous findings in the literature on innovation, firm dynamics, innovators and growth relationship. In the second part, he talked about a recent project he carried out with a research team from CBRT on innovation dynamics in Turkey. Dr. Akçiğit stated that, the project has four sub-areas: 1) cross-country analysis using COMPNET, 2) finance and innovation, 3) industrial policies and firm dynamics, 4) understanding individual inventors and entrepreneurs. He completed his speech by providing some interesting facts on Turkey from the preliminary results of this project.

The first session of the conference covered mostly policy oriented research. The divergence of SMEs and large firms in terms of investment dynamics and financing of the investments, the effect of minimum wage increase on firm exits, the linkage between population density and productivity and the macro-micro productivity linkages are the topics that were discussed by the CBRT and WB economists in that session. The findings of that session were discussed in a panel moderated by Ufuk Akçiğit with the participation of Elif Tuğçe Çınar (Ministry of Industry and Technology), Zümrüt İmamoğlu (Turkish Industry and Business Association) and Erol Taymaz (Middle East Technical University).

The afternoon sessions covered topics including the effects of subsidies on firm performances, export pass-through, fast growing Turkish firms, minimum wage and import intensity relationship and the effects of supply side shocks on production networks.

For conference photos please click here.