Research article | Open Access
International Journal of the Pursuit of Excellence in Interdisciplinary 2026, Vol. 6(1) 12-22
pp. 12 - 22
Publish Date: June 30, 2026 | Single/Total View: 0/0 | Single/Total Download: 0/0
Abstract
This study examines the structural transformation and financial fragility of seventeen main sectors in the Turkish economy between 2009 and 2023, a period encompassing three distinct macroeconomic shocks: the 2018 currency and credit crisis, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and the post-2021 inflation episode. Drawing on sector-level balance sheet data compiled by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, the analysis constructs a composite fragility score combining leverage, short-term debt dependence, liquidity, and profitability, and traces its evolution through sector fixed-effects panel regressions. The findings reveal pronounced divergence in real asset growth across sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, and trade expanded in real terms, whereas professional services, real estate, and mining contracted. Manufacturing, transport, and mining display the most resilient financial profiles, while education, arts and recreation, and accommodation are the most fragile. The econometric estimates indicate that the strongest and most statistically robust effect of macroeconomic shocks operates through the liquidity channel: the 2018 currency crisis reduced the sectoral current ratio by 0.37 points, with the COVID-19 and inflation shocks producing further significant deterioration. The results underscore that liquidity, rather than leverage, was the principal margin along which Turkish sectors absorbed successive macroeconomic shocks.
Keywords: financial fragility; sectoral analysis; panel data; Turkish economy; corporate liquidity; macroeconomic shocks
APA 7th edition
Kucuksahin, Y. (2026). Sectoral Transformation and Financial Fragility in the Turkish Economy: A Sector-Level Panel Analysis, 2009–2023. International Journal of the Pursuit of Excellence in Interdisciplinary, 6(1), 12-22.
Harvard
Kucuksahin, Y. (2026). Sectoral Transformation and Financial Fragility in the Turkish Economy: A Sector-Level Panel Analysis, 2009–2023. International Journal of the Pursuit of Excellence in Interdisciplinary, 6(1), pp. 12-22.
Chicago 16th edition
Kucuksahin, Yasir (2026). "Sectoral Transformation and Financial Fragility in the Turkish Economy: A Sector-Level Panel Analysis, 2009–2023". International Journal of the Pursuit of Excellence in Interdisciplinary 6 (1):12-22.
Alfaro, L., Asis, G., Chari, A., & Panizza, U. (2019). Corporate debt, firm size and financial fragility in emerging markets. Journal of International Economics, 118, 1–19.
Altman, E. I. (1968). Financial ratios, discriminant analysis and the prediction of corporate bankruptcy. Journal of Finance, 23(4), 589–609.
Bernanke, B., Gertler, M., & Gilchrist, S. (1999). The financial accelerator in a quantitative business cycle framework. In J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (Eds.), Handbook of Macroeconomics (Vol. 1, pp. 1341–1393). Elsevier.
Bleakley, H., & Cowan, K. (2008). Corporate dollar debt and depreciations: Much ado about nothing? Review of Economics and Statistics, 90(4), 612–626.
Claessens, S., Djankov, S., & Xu, L. C. (2000). Corporate performance in the East Asian financial crisis. World Bank Research Observer, 15(1), 23–46.
Eichengreen, B., & Hausmann, R. (1999). Exchange rates and financial fragility (NBER Working Paper No. 7418). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Frank, M. Z., & Goyal, V. K. (2009). Capital structure decisions: Which factors are reliably important? Financial Management, 38(1), 1–37.
Hausman, J. A. (1978). Specification tests in econometrics. Econometrica, 46(6), 1251–1271.
Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305–360.
Kiyotaki, N., & Moore, J. (1997). Credit cycles. Journal of Political Economy, 105(2), 211–248.
Minsky, H. P. (1986). Stabilizing an Unstable Economy. Yale University Press.
Modigliani, F., & Miller, M. H. (1958). The cost of capital, corporation finance and the theory of investment. American Economic Review, 48(3), 261–297.
Myers, S. C. (1984). The capital structure puzzle. Journal of Finance, 39(3), 575–592.
Myers, S. C., & Majluf, N. S. (1984). Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have. Journal of Financial Economics, 13(2), 187–221.
Özatay, F., & Sak, G. (2002). Banking sector fragility and Turkey's 2000–01 financial crisis. Brookings Trade Forum, 2002(1), 121–172.
Rajan, R. G., & Zingales, L. (1995). What do we know about capital structure? Some evidence from international data. Journal of Finance, 50(5), 1421–1460.
Reinhart, C. M., & Rogoff, K. S. (2009). This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. Princeton University Press.