How consumer behavior has changed during the AKP era

Before starting this article, my intention was to examine consumer habits using the most objective data available that dates back to the earliest possible period. Although inflation data has been approached with skepticism in recent years, TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) remains the only institution that provides us with systematic data and can trace this data back to the earliest periods. However, when we examine the metadata of the TÜİK Household Consumption Statistics, we see that the dataset starts from the year 2002. Just as AKP ministers and bureaucrats start every data point from 2002, disregarding the achievements of the Republic before them, TÜİK has also chosen 2002 as the milestone. In this case, I have no choice but to set the title of this study as the AKP era.

When we look at the 2002 household data, the first notable point is that the three expenditure items with the largest share of the household budget were housing and rent (27.3%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (26.7%), and transportation (8.7%), respectively.

Now, let us look at the dire situation of the same dataset in 2023. The top three expenditure items in the household budget are housing and rent (23.9%), transportation (21.9%), and food and non-alcoholic beverages (20.6%), respectively.

We said the 2023 data was dire; now let us explain why. When we compare the 2002 and 2023 figures, the dramatic change in transportation expenses immediately stands out. Transportation expenses, which had an 8.7% share in the household budget in 2002, reached a 21.9% share by 2023, meaning it increased its share in the budget by 13 percentage points, or approximately 150%.

In this situation, it is inevitable to ask the following question: while households increased the share of transportation in their budgets, which expenses did they sacrifice? The answer to the question is in the same dataset.

The share of food and non-alcoholic beverages in the budget fell from 26.7% to 20.6%; in other words, the citizen reduced the food they eat by about one-fifth to finance transportation expenses.

They reduced housing and rent expenses by one-tenth, meaning they either bought cheaper houses or preferred houses with lower rents.

They reduced clothing and footwear expenses by one-sixth, meaning they bought fewer clothes or started dressing in lower-quality items.

They reduced education expenses by one-third, meaning the citizen had to sacrifice their own or their children's future to finance transportation expenses.

They reduced entertainment and culture expenses by one-fifth; the decline in the share of this expenditure item in the budget should be examined in conjunction with the increasing cases of violence, mental breakdowns, and suicides in our society every day.

Of the twelve expenditure items in the TÜİK dataset, only two showed an increase from 2002 to 2023: one is the transportation expense we mentioned above, which increased by 13 points, and the other is the restaurant and hotel expense item, which increased by 1.5 points.

In the current situation, it is possible to explain the increase in the restaurant and hotel expense item with the extreme price increases experienced in these two sectors; furthermore, I do not feel the need to analyze it in detail because it occupies a very small place in the household budget and almost no place at all in poor households.

The case that affects all households across the country is the dramatic increase in transportation expenses. Transportation expenses, which made up 8.7% of the household budget in 2002, have become 21.9% of the household budget by 2023.

As we examined above, households have sacrificed many things to finance transportation expenses; they have given up their food, entertainment, cigarettes, and even their education.

Since these changes have occurred over the years in our daily lives, it is difficult for us to notice them, but the data from the 21 years that make up the AKP era clearly and plainly show that it is time to discuss transportation expenses.

If we want to return households to their pre-AKP prosperity, one of the first steps that must be taken on this path is definitely and absolutely to reduce the share of transportation expenses in the household budget and increase the share of expenses that are essential for citizens to live in a way worthy of human dignity, such as food, education, and housing.