The Impact of Government Support for Women's Cooperatives on Regional GDP: Evidence from KOSGEB Grants in Turkey

This study investigates the relationship between government financial support allocated to women’s cooperatives and provincial-level GDP in Turkey. Utilising a unique panel dataset compiled from the Small and Medium Enterprises Development organisation records on grants disbursed to women’s cooperatives across Turkish provinces over the period 2021–2024, we estimate pooled OLS and fixed effects models, including lagged specifications, to capture contemporaneous and delayed effects. Our analysis employs both Turkish Lira (TL) and US Dollar ($) denominated variables to assess the robustness of findings to exchange rate fluctuations. The results reveal that while TL-denominated aggregate GDP specifications yield largely insignificant coefficients, per capita GDP models and all dollar-denominated specifications produce statistically significant and positive associations. Specifically, per capita GDP models are statistically significant in fixed-effects specifications, whereas dollar-denominated models consistently yield positive and statistically significant associations. These findings show that government support channelled through women’s cooperatives is positively associated with regional economic performance, particularly when controlling for unobserved provincial heterogeneity and currency distortions. This study contributes to the growing literature on gender-sensitive development policy and cooperative economics in emerging markets.