is an associate professor of economics at Gaziantep University. He did his Ph.D. thesis on corruption in the Framework of institutional economics. He is interested in institutional economics and political economy, economic growth, and social capital. He focused his academic research on the relationship between property rights and economic growth with particular analysis on EU countries. He published articles on energy resources; the structure of natural gas markets, regional development. He has received awards with his Ph.D. thesis, and analysis on the economics of Adana city. Ata teaches the history of economics and the Turkish economy.