کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
969994 1479460 2013 10 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
The price and utility dependence of equivalence scales: Evidence from Indonesia
موضوعات مرتبط
علوم انسانی و اجتماعی اقتصاد، اقتصادسنجی و امور مالی اقتصاد و اقتصادسنجی
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
The price and utility dependence of equivalence scales: Evidence from Indonesia
چکیده انگلیسی

The purpose of this research is to estimate equivalence scales and evaluate their price and utility dependencies. To do this we unify two strands of the empirical literature on this topic, one that relies on demand data and one that relies on subjective evaluations of wellbeing. This way we are able to employ the strengths of both kinds of information. Equivalence scales are not identified from demand data alone. This is because changes in demographics could affect wellbeing directly, i.e., in ways that are not revealed by changes in behavior. The demand-based literature rules out such effects a priori and restricts parameters that measure them. In this paper we do not rely on such restrictions and instead use subjective evaluations of wellbeing as an additional source of information. Because demand data are highly informative about some of the other parameters of the model its use increases efficiency. This becomes critical once we specify complex preference structures that allow for the equivalence scale's dependence on price and utility. Our model nests the typical models used in the subjective and the demand literature and we are able to test down both kinds. We find evidence for direct utility effects. This rejects the validity of some of the restrictions applied by the demand literature within the Indonesian context. We estimate equivalence scales that are of reasonable magnitude and decrease in utility. We also find that the scales increase in the food to nonfood price ratio for poor households, whereas we do not find price dependence for more affluent households.


► We combine expenditure data and data on subjective wellbeing to estimate the scales
► Equivalence scales depend negatively on utility
► Equivalence scales depend positively on food prices for poor households
► Equivalence scales do not depend on prices for more affluent households
► Scales are 1, 1.5, 1.9, 2.3, and 2.7, for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 person households.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Journal of Public Economics - Volume 97, January 2013, Pages 272–281
نویسندگان
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