Comparative analysis of local government expenditure: Turkey and OECD

Local governments are administrative units, which are becoming increasingly important particularly in political and economical terms. Being close to the public; ensuring the efficient use of resources by getting better information about the preferences of the citizens; increasing political participation opportunities for the people in decision making stages; being seen as schools of democracy; minimizing some of the negativities created by the central government by improving transparency, accountability and financial responsibility are among many factors that increase their importance. Within this framework, duties, responsibilities and expenditures of local governments are known to show a general upward trend in many countries, including Turkey. Local governments have some socio-economic and political effects and make expenditures on a wide range of tasks, such as ensuring regular urbanization with the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, supporting entrepreneurship at the local level, promotion of the city, providing functionality to the city, protection of cultural values and disadvantaged groups, infrastructure and superstructure. Examining the expenditures of local governments is important in order to be able to follow and predict the effects that will occur; to determine their general expenditure structures; to reveal their international position in terms of expenditures; and to determine which areas should be directed primarily in order to ensure development at local level. Within this framework , the purpose of this study is to examine the expenditure of local government units in Turkey with institutional, economic and functional classification methods in the framework of data for the period 2006-2018. The examination process was realized by analyzing local government units in Turkey in detail and comparing them with OECD countries. As a result of the study, inferences are made about which local government units focus on current affairs and which ones are investment-oriented. In addition, it has been concluded that local governments in Turkey generally have a different spending structure than weighted averages of OECD countries. In line with the results, suggestions have been made for local governments to provide more effective and efficient services and to increase public satisfaction.