Spatial Analysis of Industrialization Effects on Municipalities' Environmental Protection Expenditures: The Case of Turkey

Environmental protection expenditures made by municipalities are affected by various factors, especially the level of industrialisation. This is the first study to examine the effects of industrialisation on the per capita environmental protection expenditures of municipalities in Turkey between 2007-2016. The Spatial Durbin Model is used to account for the spatial dependence and spillover effects between neighbouring municipalities. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) The increase in industrialisation requires more environmental protection expenditures. (2) Spatial model has a significant but negative effect, showing that per capita environmental protection expenditures are concentrated in specific regions and cause the free-rider problem. (3) The increase in per capita environmental revenues increases per capita environmental protection expenditures. (4) As expected, population density and land area increase environmental protection per capita. The results of this study may provide decision-makers with a different perspective in planning and coordinating environmental protection expenditures.