Global Diversification and Stability of Export Sales

This paper analyzes the global diversification and stability of export sales by using Turkish data for periods of export growth (2002-2008) and the crisis (2009). The entropy method, which allows dividing the total global diversification into two groups (diversification within group and across groups), is used to measure the global diversification for export sales. The difference between actual data and trend values for export sales is used to calculate the instability index. The main findings of the paper are the following: (i) While export sales are increasing during the 2002-2009 years, diversification for export sales is also increasing. However, this diversification is mostly done within groups (countries with similar characteristics), (ii) The instability index is significantly increasing during the crisis period (2009), (iii) Sectors which are more stable before the crisis period are the ones which are less affected by the crisis in terms of export sales, (iv) Sectors which have a higher degree of diversification are the ones which are more stable in terms of export sales.