Commentary/Esen Çağlar: Turkey in between Arab Countries and South Korea: A picture of mediocrity? TEPAV Economic Policy Analyst Esen Çağlar assessed Turkey's development performance with respect to per capita income.

"If I was to draw a picture worth a thousand words, it would be the graph below.  It shows per capita income in Turkey, Arab countries and in South Korea in proportion to that of the US, the largest economy in the world.  It starts in 1980 (the year of my birth) when a Turk, an Arab and a South Korean had the same per capita income, which was one-fifth of an American’s. By 2010, income per capita in proportion to that of the US increased to 70 percent in Korea, 30 percent in Turkey and dropped to 19 percent in Arab countries..."

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