TÜRKİYE’DE FİNANSALLAŞMANIN EMEK PAYI ÜZERİNDEKİ ETKİSİ ÜSTÜNE BİR DENEME

This study investigates the effects of financialization process of the Turkish economy on the labor’s share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the 1990-2011 period. It is seen that the capital was tended towards to financial realms due the negative effects of the financial sector on the real investments of Turkey, which was started to increase after 1990s. This change in the structure of accumulation was especially led to an increase in the unemployment level and thereby a decrease in the bargaining power of labors following the ongoing stagnation process in the real sector. While this case creates positive effects on the share of capital in the GDP, it also causes to a decrease of the labor’s share. This hypothesis, which is tested by the ordinary least square (OLS) method, proves that Turkey follows a very similar pattern in this direction over the 1990-2011 period. The empirical results show that there is a negative relationship between the labor’s share and the stock market turnover ratio, which is used as a financialization indicator. Furthermore, the real based variables that may create more employment and income seem to affect the labor’s share positively and significantly. Finally, while the increase in the unemployment rate in terms of the bargaining power variables diminishes the labor’s share, the increase in the unionization rate and the level of strikes increases the labor’s share in the GDP.