Vulnerability to Poverty in Turkey

Abstract

For many years, researchers have focused only on revealing the profile of poor or demonstrate determinants of poverty. All these initiatives are carried out after individuals/households fall into poverty. It is to prevent individuals from falling into poverty which is critical for policymaking. Therefore, it is essential to know what determines vulnerability to poverty. In this context, present study aims to demonstrate the size and determinants of vulnerability to poverty in Turkey by taking advantage of two methods which one considers the vulnerability as expected poverty and other as low expected utility. Data come from Survey on Income and Living Conditions and covers the period 2006-2017. Analysis has been performed at both the cross-sectional and panel data level. According to the findings obtained from the pooled cross-sectional data, 13% of households are vulnerable. Regional analysis shows that there is a big difference between East and West in terms of vulnerability to poverty. Findings from the model based on expected utility theory using panel data have revealed that vulnerability to poverty in the period 2006-2009 and 2014-2017 is 0.49 and 0.55, respectively. Education level, employment and health status of household leader are the most critical factors that determine vulnerability to poverty.

Keywords

• kırılganlık
• türkiye
• yoksulluk
• poverty
• turkey
• vulnerability