The Wealth Tax of 1942 and the Disappearance of Non-Muslim Enterprises in Turkey

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Middle East Technical University; University of Arizona
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050718000724
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 201-243
• 关键词: OTTOMAN-EMPIRE; jewish communities; minorities; survival; GROWTH

摘要

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.