The Causality between Healthcare Resources and Health Expenditures in Turkey. A Granger Causality Method

The aim of this study was to evaluate the causality between healthcare resources and health expenditure in Turkey over the period from 1975 to 2013. The empirical modeling was based on how GDP per capita, the number of doctor and number of hospital beds had an impact on the growth of health spending per capita. Data were gathered from the statistical databases of Turkstat, World Bank Indicators and OECD Health Data. Granger Var method was used to investigate causality between variables. Eviews 9 software was performed for the tests. At the end of the analysis, it was found out that, health expenditures per capita were affected by the number of physician per 1000 to population and it had an effect on GDP per capita. These results are expected to provide important information to health policymakers to understand which variables have an impact on dynamics of health expenditures in Turkey while they plan and control their limited resources.