RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN R&D EXPENDITURES AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: PREDICTING GDP IN TURKEY WITH ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS

Abstract

Research and development activities that have been conducted to generate innovation in the economy have significant impacts on sustainable economic growth and competitiveness. The impacts of research and development (R&D) expenditures on economic growth and international competition are enhancing the importance attributed to research and development day by day. Upon examining the dynamics of developed countries, it is observed that these countries maintain technology-based production. In this context, the relationship between R&D and economic growth becomes crucial.
The study aims to investigate the relationship between economic growth and research and development expenditures in Turkey over the period 1998-2019. To this end, besides a detailed literature review, the statistical data pertaining to the research and development expenditures in Turkey are mentioned and different artificial neural network models are utilized to highlight the relationship between economic growth and research and development expenditures as well as predicting the GDP. The obtained results are evaluated concurrently with the results of time-series regression, which can model linear relationships. As a result of the study, findings in compliance with the positive impacts of research and development expenditures on economic growth are obtained