The Asaf Savaş Akat Economics Award, organized by İktisat ve Toplum Journal, was presented for the seventh time this year. After evaluations by the esteemed jury members — Prof. Dr. Asaf Savaş Akat, Prof. Dr. Ömer Faruk Çolak, Prof. Dr. Fatma Doğruel, Prof. Dr. Ercan Eren, Prof. Dr. Ayça Ebru Giritligil, Prof. Dr. Seyfettin Gürsel, Prof. Dr. Ayça Tekin Koru, Prof. Dr. Serdar Sayan, Prof. Dr. Ege Yazgan, and Prof. Dr. Erinç Yeldan — the winner of the 2025 Asaf Savaş Akat Economics Award was Dr. Eda Yılmaz from the Department of Public Finance at Hacettepe University.
Her article, titled "Effects of Income Distribution and Fiscal Policy on Growth in Turkey: A Kaleckian Analysis," was selected for the award.
In her paper, Dr. Yılmaz uses a post-Kaleckian open economy model to analyze the Turkish economy, integrating fiscal policy tools such as taxes on labor and capital, as well as government expenditures.
The innovation of the study lies in incorporating public-private partnership investments into the model, considering private profit motives and the potential retrenchment of public activities. The findings show that government ideologies related to the provision of services, through various channels, do not result in a change to the domestic demand regime, which remains wage-led across all scenarios.
However, due to the sensitivity of net exports to labor costs, the overall regime is profit-led.
