Berat Yücel

Berat Yücel

beratycel@gmail.com LinkedIn GitHub
About Me

Senior Policy Analyst at TEPAV, Türkiye's leading economic-policy think tank, working at the intersection of trade and industrial policy, regional development, and macroeconomic monitoring.

Over five years of cross-sectoral policy research and consulting, with experience leading research components, authoring policy publications, and engaging stakeholders across government, business, and international organizations. Applied econometric methods combined with geospatial data to track economic activity in near real time.

Has worked on TEPAV projects in partnership with TOBB, UNDP, EBRD, GIZ, the European Commission (Horizon 2020), and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Economics from Middle East Technical University (METU), with an Erasmus+ exchange at the University of Strasbourg.

Interactive Tools
Open, exploratory data platforms
Data Platform
World Economic Complexity Analysis
Interactive platform visualizing countries' economic complexity using BACI trade data. Cross-country comparisons and time-series analysis via Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and Complexity Outlook Index (COI).
Launch Tool
Data Platform
Provincial Economic Complexity in Türkiye
Interactive platform visualizing economic complexity across Türkiye's 81 provinces. Maps provincial productive know-how and structural transformation potential from 2006 to 2023.
Launch Tool
Experience
Senior Policy Analyst September 2025 – Present
TEPAV | The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye
Ankara, Türkiye
  • Lead research teams on trade and industrial policy, regional development, and macroeconomic monitoring, producing analytical reports and policy notes for senior decision-makers in government, business, and international organizations.
  • Author policy publications across the full lifecycle, from research design and data work to drafting, dissemination, and stakeholder presentation.
  • Manage stakeholder engagement with TOBB leadership, government counterparts, and international partners (Carnegie, EBRD, UNDP), representing TEPAV in cross-institutional working groups and field missions.
  • Lead Researcher on the TOBB-TEPAV “Made in Europe” Impact Analysis (Manufacturing Industry Value Chain Analysis), assessing the implications of EU industrial policy and EU–MERCOSUR/EU–India FTAs on Türkiye's manufacturing exports across five ecosystems.
  • Contribute to TEPAV's flagship Monthly Economic Evaluation (Aylık Ekonomik Değerlendirme) bulletin, supporting editing, data collection, and chart preparation.
Policy Analyst August 2023 – August 2025
TEPAV | The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye
Ankara, Türkiye
  • Designed and executed data-driven analyses supporting policy formulation across trade, regional development, and inflation monitoring.
  • Authored reports and policy notes and presented findings to policymakers, foreign delegations, and private-sector audiences; identified and developed collaboration opportunities with international counterparts.
  • Built quantitative monitoring tools and applied econometric methods — including geospatial and time-series approaches — to track economic activity using both conventional and alternative data sources.
  • Built the TEPAV Food Price Index (TEGE), an alternative monthly food-inflation indicator tracking 128 items across 37 categories, now produced as a recurring TEPAV public output.
Researcher April 2021 – August 2023
TEPAV | The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye
Ankara, Türkiye
  • Contributed to multi-partner research and consulting projects in trade, private-sector development, and environmental economics under senior supervision.
  • Collected and structured datasets, conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses, and drafted briefs and report sections for internal and external audiences.
  • Supported econometric and geospatial modeling work, including for the EU Horizon 2020 BRIDGE-BS project on Black Sea ecosystem services.
Data Analyst July 2020 – April 2021
UlakFin Financial Technology Services Inc.
Ankara, Türkiye
  • Built web-scraping pipelines to collect stock-market news from firm websites and PDF sources for downstream NLP/sentiment processing.
Education
M.Sc. in Economics
Middle East Technical University
Ankara, Türkiye · Thesis: Estimating Regional GDP Per Capita in Türkiye: Insights From Nighttime Lights and Land Use Dynamics · GPA: 3.14/4
2021 – 2025
B.Sc. in Economics
Middle East Technical University
Ankara, Türkiye · Erasmus+ Exchange: University of Strasbourg, France (2018–2019) · GPA: 3.35/4
2015 – 2021
Selected Projects
Featured projects, led or contributed to
TOBB · TEPAV
“Made in Europe” — Impact Analysis on Türkiye's Manufacturing
Role: Lead Researcher, Manufacturing Industry Value Chain Analysis. Built the analytical framework across five ecosystems (automotive, textiles/apparel, metals, machinery/electrical, chemicals), combining structural trade decomposition, intra-industry trade analysis, and input-output modeling to map competitive dynamics in the EU market and Türkiye's exposure to shifts in input sourcing from the EU to Asia.
TEPAV
TEPAV Food Price Index (TEGE)
Role: Lead developer. Built TEPAV's alternative food-inflation index tracking 128 items across 37 categories, based on CPI methodology and publicly available retailer data collected through web scraping. Designed and coded the full pipeline (scraping, cleaning, index calculation) and continue to coordinate monthly production as a recurring TEPAV public output.
TOBB
Roadmap for Syria: Entrepreneurship and Value Chains
Role: Co-author of the policy report, with a specific focus on post-war industrial policy design, in a TOBB-commissioned study supporting Syria's economic reconstruction through Syrian-owned and Syrian-partnered Turkish companies. Project draws on extensive surveys of 2,000 firms and focus-group discussions with Syrian entrepreneurs.
EBRD
Türkiye Rapid Workforce Assessment in Earthquake-Affected Region
Role: Survey design and analysis contributor. Joint TEPAV–EBRD field assessment of labor-market disruptions and workforce needs across provinces affected by the February 2023 earthquakes. Designed sampling strategy across sectors and provinces; conducted post-fieldwork statistical analysis and synthesis.
UNDP
Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDS) for Iraq
Role: Analyst, strategy design. Contributed to the UNDP-led roadmap for Iraqi private-sector diversification, focusing on competitive business environment, investment attraction, and public-private partnerships. Performed economic data analysis and desk research; co-organized stakeholder workshops in Erbil.
EU Horizon 2020
BRIDGE-BS — Black Sea Ecosystem Services
Role: Quantitative analyst. Estimated nutrient discharge in Black Sea Basin rivers under future climate and socioeconomic scenarios. Collected and cleaned geospatial data from multiple sources (observed and modeled); co-developed econometric models integrating climate-related and human-pressure variables with senior project members.
TOBB-BIS
Jenin Free Industrial Zone (JIFZ), Palestine
Role: Project coordinator on behalf of TOBB-BIS, a subsidiary of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), supporting a multi-partner industrial-zone initiative in Palestine. Monitor field developments, manage stakeholder communications, organize field visits and meetings, and prepare agendas to coordinate cross-institutional alignment.
Interactive Platform
World Economic Complexity Analysis
Open-source platform visualizing the global economic complexity landscape using BACI trade data. Cross-country comparison and longitudinal trend analysis via Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and Complexity Outlook Index (COI).
Interactive Platform
Provincial Economic Complexity in Türkiye
Open-source platform visualizing economic complexity across Türkiye's 81 provinces. Maps provincial productive know-how and structural transformation potential from 2006 to 2023 through Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and Complexity Outlook Index (COI).
Publications
Policy reports, articles, working papers, and thesis
From Relabeling to Reopening: The Next Steps in Türkiye–Armenia Economic Normalization
Yücel, B., Ergezer, E. B., & Dağlı, E. — TEPAV Evaluation Note. Policy analysis on the next steps of Türkiye–Armenia economic normalization, from re-labeling of trade flows to land-border reopening.
2026
The Gulf's Showcase Under Strain: Dubai and the Iran War
Yücel, B., Sevgili, S., & Alemdar, Y. T. — TEPAV Evaluation Note N202640. Tracking Dubai's economic disruption during the Iran war using nighttime lights and sovereign CDS risk premiums.
2026
How Turkey Can Help the Economies of the South Caucasus to Diversify
İnan, F., Sak, G., & Yücel, B. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Turkey's role in South Caucasus economic diversification with cooperation-framework recommendations for Turkey–EU regional connectivity.
2026
Türkiye's Carbon Intensity Atlas: Regional Vulnerabilities in the Green Transition
Yücel, B., & Sevgili, S. — TEPAV Evaluation Note N202608. Mapping the regional vulnerabilities the green transition exposes across Türkiye's industrial geography.
2026
A New Phase in Armenia–Türkiye Relations: Tourism as a Cross-Border Regional Development Strategy
İnan, F., Güven, S., Sak, G., Yücel, B., & Can, Ö. F. — TEPAV (EU-funded, under the Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process programme).
2024
Pluralism Confronts Radicalization in Türkiye: TEPAV Surveys on Religion and Radical Attitudes in a Muslim-Majority Country
Yücel, B. — TEPAV Report. Analysis of radicalization patterns in Türkiye based on national survey data.
2024
Which Provinces in Türkiye Are Caught in the Regional Development Trap? [in Turkish]
Yücel, B. — TEPAV Policy Note. Examining Türkiye's regional economic development issues within the development-trap framework.
2024
What Awaits Us in the Future Along the Axis of Demographic Transition? [in Turkish]
Yücel, B. — TEPAV Policy Note. Evolution of population dynamics in the world and Türkiye; future projections and scenarios.
2023
How to Think About Economic Growth and Job Creation in Central Asia
Aşcı, A. İ., & Yücel, B. — TEPAV Report. Post-USSR economic trajectories and employment dynamics across Central Asia.
2023
Working Papers
Economic Recovery in Post-Conflict Syria: Evidence from Nighttime Lights and Interrupted Time-Series Analysis
Yücel, B., & Sevgili, S. — Abstract accepted, 3rd Economics and Society Congress, April 2026.
2026
Thesis
Estimating Regional GDP Per Capita in Türkiye: Insights From Nighttime Lights and Land Use Dynamics
Yücel, B. — M.Sc. Thesis, Middle East Technical University.
2025

View all my publications on my TEPAV profile →

Skills
Tools and languages

💻 Programming

Python Stata R SQL

🗺️ Geospatial

ArcMap QGIS NASA Black Marble (VIIRS)

📊 Office

Excel PowerPoint Word

🌍 Languages

Turkish (Native) English (TOEFL iBT 91 · e-YDS 91.25 / Level A) French (A2)
Contact
Get in touch
beratycel@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/berat-yucel github.com/baradyu TEPAV Profile