GELİŞMEKTE OLAN ÜLKELERDE YAŞAM MEMNUNİYETİNİN EKONOMİK BELİRLEYİCİLERİ: BRICS-T ÖRNEĞİ

Hükümetler dünyanın her yerine vatandaşlarına daha iyi bir yaşam sunmak isterler. Yüksek GSYİH’ya sahip bir ülkede yaşayan insanların daha yüksek yaşam memnuniyetine sahip olduğu yaygın bir düşüncedir. İlk olarak Richard Easterlin bu fikre karşı çıkmış ve gelişmiş ülkelerde GSYİH’de yaşanan artışların bir noktadan sonra insanlar için anlamsız hale geldiğini savunmuştur. Easterlin Paradoksu olarak adlandırılan bu düşünceyi savunan ve eleştiren çok sayıda çalışma bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışma Easterlin Paradoksu’nu gelişmekte olan ülkelerde sınamayı ve yaşam memnuniyetinin ekonomik belirleyicilerini saptamayı amaçlamaktadır. Gelişmekte olan ülkeleri temsilen BRICS-T (Brezilya, Rusya, Hindistan, Çin, Güney Afrika, Türkiye) seçilmiştir. Değişkenler olarak kişi başı GSYİH, enflasyon ve işsizlik kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonuçları gelişmekte olan ülkelerde GSYİH’nin halen yaşam memnuniyetinde önemli bir rolü olduğunu göstermektedir ancak tek belirleyici değildir. Ampirik modelimiz yaşam memnuniyetinde GSYİH ve enflasyonun pozitif etkisi bulunmaktayken, işsizliğin negatif etkisi olduğunu göstermektedir. Gelişmekte olan ülkelerin gelişmiş ülkelerden farklı özellikleri olması dolayısıyla Easterlin Paradoksu geçerli görünmemektedir. Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre gelişmekte olan ülke hükümetleri GSYİH’yi artırırken, işsizliği düşürmeye çalışmalıdırlar.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Yaşam memnuniyeti, kamu ekonomisi, ekonomik göstergeler, panel veri analizi

ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF LIFE SATISFACTION FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CASE OF BRICS-T

Governments want to provide a better life for their citizens all over the world. It is common thinking that people living in a country with a higher GDP, have a higher life satisfaction level. Richard Easterlin firstly challenged this idea, supporting that increases after a certain point in GDP are meaningless for people in developed countries. There are many studies that both support and criticize this idea, called “Easterlin Paradox”. This study aims to examine Easterlin Paradox in developing countries and determine the economic determinants of life satisfaction. BRICS-T countries namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and Turkey are selected as proxies for emerging economies. GDP per capita, inflation and unemployment are used as variables. Study results show that GDP has still an important role in life satisfaction in developing countries. However, it is not the only determinant to specify. Our empirical model shows that GDP and inflation have a positive effect on life satisfaction whereas unemployment has a negative effect. Since developing countries have different characteristics from developed countries, it can be said that Easterlin paradox is not so valid. According to study results, governments of developing countries should try to increase GDP while decreasing unemployment.

Keywords:

Life satisfaction, public economics, economic indicators, panel data analysis,

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