INVESTMENTS AND ENERGY USAGE AT THE FIRM LEVEL: EXPORT-RELATED EFFECTS ON TURKISH MANUFACTURING

Date

2026-3-13

Author

Uysal, Yetkin

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This thesis examines whether Türkiye’s macro-level commitment to reducing energy intensity within the green economy paradigm is compatible with firm-level behaviour in manufacturing. Given the importance of export-led growth in rebalancing the Turkish economy, the study focuses on export-induced physical investment dynamics as a transmission channel through which environmental and competitiveness objectives might interact. Specifically, it analyses how export entry and foreign demand shocks affect firms’ energy usage and intensity. Using quasi-experimental research designs, the findings show that firms significantly adjust their capital-goods – particularly machinery – investment rates in the process of becoming exporters, which leads to increases in energy intensity. Moreover, these effects spill over to non-exporter firms that indirectly export via their sales to exporters, suggesting that export-driven structural changes propagate across domestic production networks at the cost of higher energy intensity. In contrast, shift-share analysis reveals that incumbent exporters do not significantly modify their machinery investment behaviour in response to foreign demand shocks. The absence of investment-based technical upgrading limits their ability to benefit from learning-by-exporting in terms of energy-intensity reduction. This suggests that adjustments operate mainly through shifts in product-mix shares, contributing to rising energy intensity among initially less energy-intensive firms. By jointly analysing export dynamics at both the extensive and intensive margins, the thesis provides empirical evidence that macro-level ambitions to reduce energy intensity and firm-level export behaviour are not automatically aligned in Turkish manufacturing. Accordingly, it derives policy implications and recommendations to foster such alignment.

Subject Keywords

energy intensity, export dynamics, capital-goods investments, spillover effects

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118775

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis