Özet:

Although it is usually perceived as an issue associated with underdeveloped countries, the phenomenon of poverty continues to be a major problem for developed ones. For this reason, the fight against poverty is regarded as a task attributed to the state even in developed countries. This study aims to examine to what extent public social expenditures have an influence on poverty within the EU member states and in Turkey. By obtaining annual data from 2005 to 2019 for 23 countries, the variables of poverty risk, public social expenditures, public health expenditures, tax burden, and inflation rate have been included in the econometric model, and the model has been estimated by panel data analysis. According to the findings, there is a negative relationship between public social expenditures and poverty in EU countries and Turkey, in accordance with the literature. It has been determined that a 1-unit increase in social expenditures reduces the risk of poverty by 0.194 units. As a result, social expenditures can be used as an effective tool to cope with poverty, especially during pandemic periods such as Covid-19.

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