The impacts of public expenditures on income distribution: Turkey as a case study

The unequal distribution of income is an important economic and social problem all over the world. Public expenditure is an efficient fiscal policy tool to redistribute income while transfer expenditure is the most efficient category from this aspect. In this thesis, first the theoretical framework of public expenditure and income distribution are explained and then the empirical literature related to the effects of public expenditure on income distribution is summarized. In addition, an econometric study on Turkey is carried out by using a multiple regression analysis. The main finding of the econometric model, which covers the period 1987-2016 is that, the transfer expenditure in Turkey has a positive effect on income distribution while current expenditure has a negative effect.