The impact of social spending on income distribution: The case of Turkey

Although the search for equality in societies reflects the ideal achieve absolute equality it does not seem to be possible in the future as it wasn't in the past. Since the Industrial Revolution, the gap between the rich and the poor has been growing more and more. In the past, income inequalities have been regarded as the problem of undeveloped countries, but today it has become a problem that threatens all countries without discrimination. Public expenditure is the most commonly used and most effective instruments of eliminating income inequalities and ensuring justice in income distribution. These public expenditures, which outweigh the social qualifications, require state intervention, and intensively spread externalities, are defined as social expenditures and are called as education, health and social protection expenditures. In this study, the effects of social expenditures on income distribution were examined for Turkey and 28 European countries using panel data analysis. Four models were used in the analysis. The common results in these models are that social protection expenditures, per capita income and share of the poorest 20% the most influential variables in income distribution in this country group.