TY - JOUR
T1 - The wealth tax of 1942 and the disappearance of non-muslim enterprises in Turkey
AU - Aǧlr, Seven
AU - Artunç, Clhan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Economic History Association.
PY - 2019/3/1
Y1 - 2019/3/1
N2 - Turkey imposed a controversial tax on wealth to finance the army in 1942. This tax was arbitrarily assessed and fell disproportionately on non-Muslim minorities. We study the heterogeneous impact of this tax on firms by assembling a new dataset of all enterprises in Istanbul between 1926 and 1950. We find that the tax led to the liquidation of non-Muslim-owned firms, which were older and more productive, reduced the formation of new businesses with non-Muslim owners, and replaced them with frailer Muslim-owned startups. The tax helped nationalize the Turkish economy, but had negative implications for productivity and growth.
AB - Turkey imposed a controversial tax on wealth to finance the army in 1942. This tax was arbitrarily assessed and fell disproportionately on non-Muslim minorities. We study the heterogeneous impact of this tax on firms by assembling a new dataset of all enterprises in Istanbul between 1926 and 1950. We find that the tax led to the liquidation of non-Muslim-owned firms, which were older and more productive, reduced the formation of new businesses with non-Muslim owners, and replaced them with frailer Muslim-owned startups. The tax helped nationalize the Turkish economy, but had negative implications for productivity and growth.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0022050718000724
DO - 10.1017/S0022050718000724
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85062979073
SN - 0022-0507
VL - 79
SP - 201
EP - 243
JO - Journal of Economic History
JF - Journal of Economic History
IS - 1
ER -