Convergence Analysis of Local Government Expenditures at Provincial Level in Turkey; [Türkiye’de İl Düzeyindeki Mahalli İdare Harcamalarının Yakınsama Analizi]

It is considered essential to examine the expenditures of local administrations, which strengthen their position day by day in terms of administrative, political, and economic aspects. This study it is aimed to examine the local government expenditures at the provincial level in Turkey in the period 2006-2019, within the framework of economic classification and with panel convergence analysis. The convergence in terms of local government expenditures according to economic sort in 81 provinces in Turkey was examined using the Panel Log-(t) convergence test proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009). As a result of the analysis in which seven different categories were handled for local government expenditures, there is no evidence that cities converge to a single equilibrium state. However, in the sub-categories of expenditure, it was observed that the provinces converged by forming at least three and at most five clusters. Suppose an evaluation is made on the expenditure categories. There is a similar convergence in personnel expenditures and social security premium payments, total current expenditures and purchases of goods and services, and total capital expenditures. Further, it can be stated that there is a severe difference between clusters between total current expenditures and total capital expenditures. In addition, in terms of the convergence between provinces in terms of expenditures, it is estimated that municipalities in general and metropolitan municipalities and affiliated administrations, in particular, are effective in clusters in terms of both the administrative structure and the share in total local administration expenditures. © 2022, Sosyoekonomi Society. All rights reserved.