A Structural VAR Analysis of the Determinants of Capital Flows into Turkey

Since the beginning of 1990s, Turkey has been exposed to large amounts of capital flows with significant effects on the economic performance. This study examines the determinants of capital flows into Turkey in the traditional 'push-pull' factors approach. To this end, a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model has been employed and impulse-response and variance decomposition functions have been produced covering the period from 1992:01 to 2005:12. The same analysis has also been carried out for the two sub-periods 1992:01-2001:12 and 2002:01-2005:12 to inspect if there exists a change in the roles of push and pull factors before and after the 2001 economic crisis. The empirical evidence suggests that the relative roles of some of the factors have changed considerably in the post crisis period and pull factors are in general dominant over push factors in determining capital flows into Turkey.