May 2025

IZA DP No. 17890: The Poverty Effectiveness of Social Security Benefits in Türkiye

Zeynep Gizem Can, Cathal O'Donoghue

This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the social security system and transfer expenditures in Türkiye in combating poverty. Social security systems aim to reduce the effects of poverty by ensuring that individuals meet their basic needs. Transfer expenditures in Türkiye, while providing temporary support especially for disadvantaged groups, carry the risk of creating dependency relations in the long term. While the short-term effects of transfer expenditures are frequently addressed in the literature, studies on their role in combating structural poverty are limited. This study evaluates the effects of transfer expenditures on the capacity of individuals to create sustainable welfare. The case of Türkiye is important due to the institutional transformation of social security policies and the politicization of aid in recent years. The study analyzes the effectiveness of social transfers at the regional level using the data analysis method. Thus, the structural effects of social policies in reducing poverty are investigated and policy recommendations for more comprehensive, long-term strategies are presented. The findings aim to produce generalizable inferences for similar developing countries based on the case of Türkiye.