THE RELATIONSHIP OF HEALTH EXPENDITURES AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: AN ANALYSIS ON TURKISH ECONOMY (1988-2019)

Authors : Adem Üzümcü, Yasin Söğüt

Pages : 77-106

Doi:10.36543/kauiibfd.2021.005

View : 34 | Download : 19

Publication Date : 2021-06-28

Article Type : Research

Abstract :Health and education expenditures are among the sources of human capital accumulation. It is claimed that health and education expenditures make a positive contribution to the economic growth process through human capital accumulation. In this study, the development of health expenditures in Turkey in the period 1988-2019 and its impact on economic growth is emphasized. In this context, the effects of life expectancy at birth (LEB) and the health expenditures (HE) on economic growth (GDP) were analyzed with the ARDL co-integration test. It was concluded that there is a co-integration relationship between the variables in the long run. In the study, a positive relationship was determined between LEB, HE and GDP in 1998-2019 period in Turkey. In this framework, it has been observed that a one-unit increase in the LEB causes an increase of 0.018 units in GDP and an increase of one-unit in HE leads to an increase of 0.112 units in GDP. When the effects of LEB and HE variables on economic growth are compared, it is concluded that the HE effect is greater in Turkey. In addition, within the framework of Toda-Yamamoto causality analysis, it was found that there is bidirectional causality relationship between health expenditures and economic growth variables.
Keywords : health expenditures, economic growth, Turkey, co-integration analysis, ARDL