Reforming Agricultural Policy in Turkey in Accordance with New Growth Theory

As in many other protectionist countries, the pressure for agricultural reform in Turkey comes mostly from foreign institutions, be in the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO or the EU. The influence of these institutions on Turkish agricultural policy has however decreased in recent years, and therefore reform efforts have been abandoned in many areas. In this paper, we argue that Turkey should start designing a homegrown agricultural reform policy that is based on New Growth Theory, the economic theory of the knowledge economy. Such a policy would be focused on facilitating change through entrepreneurship and innovation on the countryside and differ substantially from the policy advice that has been given so far by foreign institutions.