The Relationship Between Natural Disasters and Economic Growth in Türkiye

Natural disasters significantly affect the physical, environmental, and social dynamics of societies, leading to substantial loss of life and property while disrupting economic activity. Additionally, they can result in long-term economic setbacks by causing lasting changes to both physical and human capital. The scale, severity, and economic impacts of natural disasters vary depending on a country's level of development. This highlights the existence of a relationship between natural disasters and development levels, emphasizing the need for economic research to explain this relationship. Such studies can contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics and aid in future planning. This study aims to analyze the relationship between natural disaster-induced damages and economic growth in Türkiye during the period 1960–2017, utilizing the ARDL bounds testing approach. The findings reveal a negative and statistically significant relationship between natural disaster losses and economic growth in both the short and long run. Moreover, long-term analyses show that capital stock and labour force are key determinants of economic growth. These results show that disasters have significant negative effects not only at the physical level but also at the macroeconomic level, highlighting the need to promote capital accumulation and improve the quality of the labour force for the sustainability of economic growth.