Istanbul emerging as a global financial center…
As loyal readers would know, I have been a staunch critic of the government’s efforts to make a financial center out of Istanbul.
Not that it is not a great idea. If nothing else, it will mean more freelance consulting and writing jobs for your friendly neighborhood economist 
But I just don’t think making long grocery lists without thinking about binding constraints and without considering the competition is the way to achieve it.
However, even I seem to be convinced that Istanbul is well on its way to becoming a financial center after seeing the picture below, taken in Istanbul’s designated financial center district Atasehir a few days ago:
The real deal sure beats the brass one of NYC:
Joking aside, according to a recent article in the Hurriyet Daily News, government bigwigs are boasting that the Atasehir financial center will encompass 177 hectares, making it bigger than Wall Street and the City. Which makes me wonder if my connected friends in Ankara, who have been claiming for a while that the IFC project is nothing more than a real estate rent-seeking scheme for AKP cronies, are right after all…
BTW, a meeting I am attending this week has made it for the first time to FT”s weekly calendar, so maybe there is something going for Istanbul, after all:)…
2 Responses to “Istanbul emerging as a global financial center…”
insider trading • March 26th, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Critics argued that credit rating agencies and investors failed to accurately price the risk involved with mortgage-related financial products, and that governments did not adjust their regulatory practices to address 21st-century financial markets.
Guenter • April 18th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
it takes more to turn any city into a real international finance center. what will be – we will see.
But thephoto you are displaying in this article is in Maslak, which is around 20 km away from Atasehir.
