Coşkun Can Aktan (born 1963) is a political economist and a professor at the Faculty of Economics and Management at

Dokuz Eylül University Dokuz Eylül University () (DEÜ) is a Public university, public research university in İzmir, Turkey. Founded in 1982, it is organized into 18 faculties. It holds the distinction of being the first university in Turkey to implement the probl ...

in İzmir, Turkey. He is founder and honorary chairman of the Social Sciences Research Society. Aktan is a leading expert on the privatization of the Turkish

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

, analyzing and writing on the movement of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

from a statist to a market economy from its early days, making Aktan an early and internationally known source of information on Turkey's move toward a market-based economy. Coskun Can Aktan is widely considered one of the important Turkish intellectual and critical author in social sciences. Aktan's writing has often been explicitly critical of academia and electoralism in particular. He has published several books and numerous articles criticizing modern electoral democracies and advocating "demarchy" built mainly epistocracy, meritocracy, sortition and rotation. He is also a leading intellectual writing on numerous critical books and articles on the mass higher education and academic nihilism.

Academic career

Coskun Can Aktan is currently a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the Faculty of Economics and Management at the

. He worked at several international research centers and universities including th
Center for Study of Public Choice

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, United States; Economics Department of the University of California (UCLA); International Social Sciences Institute of the University of Edinburgh; Institut für Allgemeine für Wirtschaftsforschung of the University of Freiburg (Germany); University of Vrije, Belgium and Mount Kenya University,

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

as a visiting scholar. Aktan's research studies were funded by the fellowships and the grants of such organizations as Higher Education Institution of Turkey, Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Institution (TÜBİTAK), Turkish Sciences Academy (TÜBA), George Mason University Foundation (United States), Earhart Foundation (United States), British Council (UK), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (Germany), Friedrich-Naumann Foundation (Germany), Japan Foundation (Japan) etc.

Fields

Public Finance /

Public Economics Public economics ''(or economics of the public sector)'' is the study of government policy through the lens of economic efficiency and Equity (economics), equity. Public economics builds on the theory of welfare economics and is ultimately used as ...

/ Public Choice / Constitutional Economics /

Institutional Economics Institutional economics focuses on understanding the role of the Sociocultural evolution, evolutionary process and the role of institutions in shaping Economy, economic Human behavior, behavior. Its original focus lay in Thorstein Veblen's instin ...

Political Economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

Scholarship/fellowship

* Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant. ( Japan Economic Policy Association, JEPA) * Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA). (

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Economics Department / visiting scholar. * Friedrich Naumann Foundation Fellowship. ( Albert Ludwigs University and Walter Eucken Institute in Freiburg / Visiting Scholar. * DAAD ( Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) Fellowship. ( Albert Ludwigs University and Walter Eucken Institute in Freiburg / visiting scholar. * British Council Fellowship. (International Social Science Institute, University of Edinburgh as an honorary visiting associate. * Earhart Foundation Grant. (the Center for Study of Public Choice, George Mason University. / visiting scholar) * Dissertation fellowship from Higher Education Board, Turkey as well as a supplementary fund from the Center for Study of Public Choice, George Mason University, United States. the Center for Study of Public Choice as a visiting graduate student.

Academic Performance

* Professor Coskun Can Aktan has an H index = 58, Total citations = 17,737, is the primary author for six papers with over 100 cites, and has been publishing since at least 1987 pe
Google scholar
He passes WP:PROF. Retrieved December 25, 2024. Note: be sure to us
Google Scholar
if necessary. * Professor Coskun Can Aktan has a Top Read Score (1,045,311) a
ResearchGate
one of the highest among social scientists. Retrieved December 25, 2024. Note: Reads is a simple metric designed to show you exactly how often research is being accessed on ResearchGate, in real time. * Professor Coskun Can Aktan has highest H index in Economics and in all Social Sciences in Turkey
als

External links

*Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları Derneğ
Coskun Can 21st-century Turkish economists
People from İzmir
Living people 1963 births Fellows of the Earhart Foundation