Political Polarization and Public Sector Employment

Year 2021, Volume: 23 Issue: 1, 203 - 218, 29.03.2021

Sacit Hadi Akdede , Nazlı Keyifli

https://doi.org/10.32709/akusosbil.747621

Abstract

Governments need personnel to fulfill their economic and social activities. Thus, it is seen that the government affects the economy through the employment channel. There are many studies in the literature on public sector employment. However, as far as we know, previous studies have not addressed the impact of political polarization on the public sector. This study empirically explores the relationship between public sector employment and political polarization. 22 developed and developing are included in the scope of the study and annual data for the period 2000-2018 were used. Cross-section analysis method was used as statistical analysis. The political polarization variable was obtained from the World Values Survey (WVS) database. The findings obtained from the econometric analysis show that the increase in political polarization has a positive effect on the public sector employment level. In addition, our empirical results indicate that public employment is high in societies with high religious fractionalization. The paper explains the links between variables for these findings.

Keywords

Public sector employment, political polarization, cross-section analysis

Politik Kutuplaşma ve Kamu Sektörü İstihdamı

Abstract

Devletler ekonomik ve sosyal faaliyetlerini yerine getirebilmek için personele ihtiyaç duymaktadırlar. Böylelikle devletin istihdam kanalıyla ekonomiyi etkilediği görülmektedir. Literatürde kamu sektörü istihdamı üzerine çok sayıda çalışma mevcuttur. Ancak, bildiğimiz kadarıyla önceki çalışmalar kamu sektörü üzerinde politik kutuplaşmanın etkisini ele almamıştır. Bu çalışma kamu sektörü istihdamı ile politik kutuplaşma arasındaki ilişkiyi ampirik olarak araştırmaktadır. Çalışmanın kapsamına gelişmiş ve gelişmekte olan 22 ülke dâhildir ve çalışmada 2000-2018 dönemi için ilgili değişkenlerin yıllık verilerinin ortalaması kullanılmıştır. İstatistiksel analiz olarak yatay kesit analizi yapılmıştır. Politik kutuplaşma değişkeni Dünya Değerler Anketi (WVS) veri tabanından elde edilmiştir. Ekonometrik analiz sonucu elde edilen bulgular, politik kutuplaşmanın yüksek olduğu ülkelerde kamu sektörü istihdam düzeyinin oransal olarak daha yüksek olduğunu göstermektedir. Ek olarak, ampirik sonuçlarımıza göre dinsel çeşitliliğin yüksek olduğu toplumlarda kamu sektörü istihdamı da oransal olarak daha yüksektir. Çalışma bu bulguların bağlantılarını açıklamaktadır.

Keywords

Kamu sektörü istihdamı, politik kutuplaşma, yatay kesit analizi

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