An analysis of the structure of the Turkish transportation sector in the context of a two-group industry model

The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure of the transportation sector in the Turkish economy from two angles; one in terms of transportation services, and the second in terms of manufacturing transport equipment. The examination is mainly based on extended input-output multiplier analysis; it focuses on decomposition of the total effects of an exogenous injection into its components, each of which reflects a particular aspect of intersectoral transactions. Along with the multiplier analysis, the relative positions of the transportation industries are studied by means of their total, backward and forward linkage effects measured in money units. The employment generation and the import dependency structures of the transportation sector are also studied. One of the major findings is that, contrary to the general belief in Turkey, highway transport services and highway transport equipment manufacturing industries are not the leading industries in the transportation sector in inducing expansion in the rest of the economy, but they trail behind the other transportation industries. This leading role is shouldered by air transport services and ‘other transport equipment manufacturing’ industries as shown by their high degree of backward effect inducement per unit of injection into their final demand.