The Relationship between CO2 Emissions, Economic Growth, and Health Expenditures: An Empirical Application for Turkey and Selected Countries

The relationship between environmental pollution, health expenditures, and economic growth have become a controversial topic in academic literature in recent years. In this study, whether there is a relationship among CO2 emissions, economic growth, and health expenditures in Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, and South Africa for the period between 2000 and 2016 was studied using Panel Data analysis. The empirical findings of the study show that there is a bilateral causality relationship between health expenditures and economic growth, that there is a bilateral causality relationship between CO2 emissions and health expenditures, and that there is bilateral causality relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions. This result fortifies the feedback hypothesis (Bilateral Causality) in the literature. The results of the study present empirical evidence for policymakers on the fact that appropriate health expenditure level, a better environmental quality, and a higher welfare level can be made possible in developing countries through intertwined policy precautions.