Analyzing the Effects of Education and Health Expenditures on Equal Opportunities in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims to measure the effect of education and health expenditures in terms of equality in opportunity. Hence, it aims to determine whether the current public spending might be able to relieve the social inequalities in Turkey. The data set was examined in detail by visual inspection and cross tabulation methods; education and health expenditures are classified according to population density and income distribution. Finally, we employ government spending on health and education per person as dependent variables and assess the effect of distribution of population by provinces and GDP per capita on public spending using the OLS method. Our findings suggest that existing government policies tend to promote equal opportunities in Turkey.