Can We Increase Health Expenditure Per Capita Through Higher Economic Growth? Empirical Evidence from Turkey

Many researchers indicate that health expenditures positively contribute to economic growth and prosperity, emphasizing that when healthy individuals are more efficient, they make a huge contribution to human capital, which in turn improves productivity. There is also a relationship between economic growth and health expenditures, meaning that health expenditure is a function of income and higher income leads to an increase in spending on health. In this study, we assess whether economic growth has an impact on healthcare expenditure by focusing on an emerging market economy. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to test the impact of economic performance on health expenditure per capita for Turkey in the period of 1999-2018. In the analysis, the unit root properties are tested by using RALS (Residual Augmented Least Squares) ADF and traditional Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) unit root tests. In order to examine the long-run relationship between economic growth and health expenditure per capita, we employ the RALS Engle-Granger and traditional Engle-Granger cointegration tests. The findings of our analysis support the evidence of a long-run impact of economic growth on healthcare expenditure per capita for Turkey in the relevant period.