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The Department of Economics Organizes Symposium on “Current Economic Developments and the Future of Social Policy

The symposium titled “Current Economic Developments and the Future of Social Policy,” organized by the Department of Economics of the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, was held with high participation.

The program began with opening remarks delivered, in the following order, by the Head of the Department of Economics, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selda Görkey; Acting Dean Prof. Dr. Özlem Kayhan Pusane; Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Bülent Kahraman; and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Mehmet Serdar Sarıgül. Following the opening speeches, Prof. Dr. Hasan Bülent Kahraman delivered the keynote presentation titled “The Three Major Contradictions of Neoliberal Economies.”

The symposium continued with a session titled “Social Policy in a Changing World,” moderated by Emeritus Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kaytaz. In this session, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Serhat Koloğlugil presented “The Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence, Humanity, and Freedom.” Asst. Prof. Dr. Özlem İnanç from the Department of Economics delivered a presentation titled “The Returns to Education Under Wage Compression: A Skill- and Occupation-Based Analysis for Türkiye and the OECD,” while Prof. Dr. Aslı Şen Taşbaşı presented “Energy Poverty and the Green Transformation.” The session addressed the social impacts of digital transformation, the relationship between education and labor markets, and the transformation of social policy in the context of energy poverty from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The second session, moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selda Görkey, was held under the title “Current Economic Developments in Türkiye.” In this session, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tolga Aksoy from the Department of Economics at Yıldız Technical University presented “A Spatial Perspective on Multidimensional Poverty in Türkiye.” Asst. Prof. Dr. Serap Sağır Güneş, from the Department of Economics at Işık University, presented “The Foundation of Human Capital: The Macroeconomic Effects of Early Childhood Development Investments on the Turkish Economy.” Asst. Prof. Dr. Şerif Yüksel, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Istanbul Kültür University, delivered a presentation titled “The Political Economy of Fighting Inflation in Türkiye: A Comparative Analysis with Argentina.” The session evaluated issues of poverty, human capital, and anti-inflation policies within a multidimensional and comparative framework.