The effects of health expenditures on economic growth: Analysis of Turkish economy after 1980

In this study, it is investigated the effects of total health expenditures carried out from 1980 to the following years in Turkey on economic growth by doing public- private sector separation. The aim of the study is to reveal the efficiency ratios of the public and private sector expenditures on the economic growth carried out from 1980 to present in Turkey. In this context, if it deemed necessary, it is aimed at introduction of new policy recommendations or support for health politics currently applied. In the first part of the study, general information about health and economic growth concepts is given, subsequently, the relationship between health and economic growth is examined. In the second part of the study, general information about structure of health expenditures carried out in Turkey is given. In the last part of the study, the effects of total health expenditures by doing public-private sector separation, carried out in the years after 1980 on economic growth with methods of variance decomposition and effect-responce analysis are introduced. As a consequence of analysis, it is reached the result that public health expenditures carried out since 1980 in Turkey play a more active role on economic growth and there is no causality relationship between variables. Key Words: Health-Based Growth Hypothesis, Public and Private Health Expenditures, Economic Growth, VAR Model Analysis, Variance Decomposition, Impulse - Response Analysis, Wald Test.