Fiscal space and resarch of factors restricting fiscal space: The case of Turkey

Fiscal space has appeared in the literature as a concept describing the portion that can be allocated from the budget for the expenditures that the state would spend on items such as education, health and infrastructure without harming financial sustainability. The notion also represents the counter cyclical fiscal policy opportunities that the state can implement against economic crises. Although fiscal space is a new concept in the literature, it is seen that similar ideas exist in the theory of public finance. The restriction of the fiscal space describes the limitation of a country's fiscal policy. Fiscal space constraint examined by various indicators has been a state of affair that developing countries frequently encounter as a result of neoliberal economic policies. Following the economic crisis called the 2008 Great Recession, the application areas of fiscal policy are reopened. This has increased the importance of fiscal space. Turkey's economic crisis has revealed the need of fiscal space for Turkey. In this study, factors restricting fiscal space in Turkey have been studied as using the light of the financial indicators specified the literature. The aim of this study is to determine limiting factors of ficsal space in Turkey and to provide policy recommendations to the expansion of fiscal space In the first part of the study, different definitions of fiscal space are given and the place of fiscal space in the history of economic thoughts is examined. In the second part, the methods of creating and calculating fiscal spcae are explained, and then the factors limiting fiscal space area are shown. In the third part, determined fiscal space indicators examined for the period 1990-2019 in Turkey and the restricting factors of fiscal space has been identified. Key Words: Fiscal Space, The Theory of Public Finance, Economic Crisis, Fiscal Policy