Increasing Effect of Syrian Temporary Refugees on Interregional Income and Wealth Inequality

This study aims to assess the impact of the additional population pressure on the interregional income and wealth distribution of the Syrian temporary refugees in Türkiye. Using Excel, we calculated the effect of the additional population pressure from the Syrians in the 26 sub-regions in NUTS 2 on the asset and income distribution among the regions. The asset and income distributions were estimated using the Gini, Theil, Atkinson, and CV methods. Subsequently, we determined the disruptive effect of Syrians on the interregional income distribution in each of the 10 distinct income components. The interregional income distribution deteriorated by 4% to 7% across different income groups. Additionally, we determined the disruptive effect of Syrians on the interregional wealth distribution across 16 different asset components. The deterioration in the interregional asset distribution according to real asset components occurred in a wide band between 1% and 18%. Upon comparing the interregional distribution of income and wealth components, we observed that the additional population pressure of Syrians significantly and steadily increased the inequality in the distribution of income components. Only a balanced distribution of income and wealth can prevent the Syrians, who form their shadow economy, from deteriorating the distribution of income and wealth.