IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eso/journl/v43y2012i1p31-66.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Welfare Impact of Price Changes on Household Welfare and Inequality 1999-2011

Author

Listed:
  • JASON LOUGHREY

    (Teagasc/National University of Ireland Galway)

  • CATHAL O’DONOGHUE

    (Teagasc)

Abstract

This paper attempts to use applied micro-economic research to understand the impact of price changes over the period 1999-2011 in Ireland. This measure combines an efficiency component using a Linear Expenditure System (LES) and an equity component using the Atkinson Index of Inequality. The efficiency component includes the behavioural response to price changes for non-subsistence expenditures thereby producing a Cost of Living Index. The Atkinson Index of Inequality produces an inequality measure and this is combined with the Cost of Living Index to produce an overall welfare measure. This extends upon the existing Irish literature on this issue by accounting for this broader set of components. The results show that changes in the cost of living have differed substantially between households both in terms of demographics and the position of the household in the income distribution and that behavioural response can potentially improve the welfare position of households in response to price changes in most years.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason Loughrey & Cathal O’Donoghue, 2012. "The Welfare Impact of Price Changes on Household Welfare and Inequality 1999-2011," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 31-66.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:43:y:2012:i:1:p:31-66
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.esr.ie/article/view/53/47
    File Function: First version,2012
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Newbery, David M, 1995. "The Distributional Impact of Price Changes in Hungary and the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(431), pages 847-863, July.
    2. Olivier Bargain & Olivier Donni & Monnet Gbakou, 2010. "The Measurement of Child Costs: Evidence from Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 41(1), pages 1-20.
    3. John Creedy, 2001. "Indirect tax reform and the role of exemptions," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 22(4), pages 457-486., December.
    4. Roberts, Kevin, 1980. "Price-Independent Welfare Prescriptions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 277-297, June.
    5. Bart Hobijn & David Lagakos, 2005. "Inflation Inequality In The United States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 51(4), pages 581-606, December.
    6. Christopher T. Whelan & Bertrand Maître, 2010. "Protecting the vulnerable: poverty and social exclusion in ireland as the economic crisis emerged," Working Papers 201023, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    7. John Creedy, 1998. "The Welfare Effect on Different Income Groups of Indirect Tax Changes and Inflation in New Zealand," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 74(227), pages 373-383, December.
    8. King, Mervyn A., 1983. "Welfare analysis of tax reforms using household data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 183-214, July.
    9. William A. Barnett & Ousmane Seck, 2008. "Rotterdam model versus almost ideal demand system: will the best specification please stand up?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(6), pages 795-824.
    10. David Madden, 2009. "Distributional Characteristics for Ireland: A Note," Working Papers 200910, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    11. Paolo Liberati, 2001. "The Distributional Effects of Indirect Tax Changes in Italy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(1), pages 27-51, January.
    12. Creedy, John & Dixon, Robert, 1998. "The Relative Burden of Monopoly on Households with Different Incomes," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(258), pages 285-293, May.
    13. Creedy, John, 1998. "The Welfare Effect on Different Income Groups of Indirect Tax Changes and Inflation in New Zealand," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 74(227), pages 373-383, December.
    14. Eithne Murphy & Eoghan Garvey, 2008. "The inadequacy of cost of living indices based on subjective preferences: an ethical and methodological critique," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 745-754.
    15. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-326, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sologon, Denisa Maria & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Linden, Jules & Kyzyma, Iryna & Loughrey, Jason, 2022. "Welfare and Distributional Impact of Soaring Prices in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 15738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Cathal O’Donoghue & Jason Loughrey & Karyn Morrissey, 2013. "Using the EU-SILC to model the impact of the economic crisis on inequality," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Can, Zeynep Gizem & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Sologon, Denisa Maria & Smith, Darius & Griffin, Rosaleen & Murray, Una, 2023. "Modelling the Distributional Effects of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Turkey and the South Caucasus: A Microsimulation Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 16619, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Cathal O’Donoghue & Jason Loughrey & Denisa M. Sologon, 2018. "Decomposing the Drivers of Changes in Inequality During the Great Recession in Ireland using the Fields Approach," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 173-200.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alessandro Santoro, 2007. "Marginal Commodity Tax Reforms: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 827-848, September.
    2. Can, Zeynep Gizem & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Sologon, Denisa Maria & Smith, Darius & Griffin, Rosaleen & Murray, Una, 2023. "Modelling the Distributional Effects of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Turkey and the South Caucasus: A Microsimulation Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 16619, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. François Bourguignon & Amedeo Spadaro, 2006. "Microsimulation as a tool for evaluating redistribution policies," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 4(1), pages 77-106, April.
    4. Rinaldo Brau & Massimo Florio, 2004. "Privatisations as price reforms: Evaluating consumers' welfare changes in the U.K," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 75-76, pages 109-133.
    5. Aditi Dimri & François Maniquet, 2020. "Income poverty measurement in India: defining group-specific poverty lines or taking preferences into account?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(2), pages 137-156, June.
    6. Sologon, Denisa Maria & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Linden, Jules & Kyzyma, Iryna & Loughrey, Jason, 2022. "Welfare and Distributional Impact of Soaring Prices in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 15738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Araar, Abdelkrim, 2002. "L’impact des variations des prix sur les niveaux d’inégalité et de bien-être : une application à la Pologne durant la période de transition," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 78(2), pages 221-242, Juin.
    8. Abdelkrim Araar & Paolo Verme, 2019. "Prices and welfare: a comparative analysis of measures and computational methods," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1077-1101, October.
    9. Georgia Kaplanoglou, 2004. "Household Consumption Patterns, Indirect Tax Structures and Implications for Indirect Tax Harmonisation - A Three Country Perspective," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 35(1), pages 83-107.
    10. Mohsin, Asma & Zaman, Khalid, 2012. "Distributional effects of rising food prices in Pakistan: Evidence from HIES 2001–02 and 2005–06 survey," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1986-1995.
    11. Barnett, William A. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Consumer preferences and demand systems," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 210-224, December.
    12. Barnett, William A. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "The Differential Approach to Demand Analysis and the Rotterdam Model," MPRA Paper 12319, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Sami Bibi & Massa Coulibaly & John Cockburn & Luca Tiberti, 2009. "L'impact de la hausse des prix des produits alimentaires sur la pauvreté des enfants et les reponses politiques au Mali," Papers inwopa09/60, Innocenti Working Papers.
    14. Asano, Seki & Barbosa, Ana Luiza N. H. & Fiuza, Eduardo P. S., 2004. "Optimal Commodity Taxes for Brazil Based on AIDS Preferences," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 58(1), January.
    15. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hines, James Jr., 2002. "Taxation and economic efficiency," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 21, pages 1347-1421, Elsevier.
    16. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Prieto-Rodriguez, Juan, 2008. "A revenue-neutral tax reform to increase demand for public transport services," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 659-672, May.
    17. Rodriguez Castelan,Carlos & Araar,Abdelkrim & Malasquez Carbonel,Eduardo Alonso & Olivieri,Sergio Daniel & Vishwanath,Tara, 2019. "Distributional Effects of Competition : A Simulation Approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8838, The World Bank.
    18. John Cockburn & Hélène Maisonnave & Véronique Robichaud & Luca Tiberti, 2013. "Fiscal Space and Public Spending on Children in Burkina Faso," Cahiers de recherche 1308, CIRPEE.
    19. Urzúa, Carlos M., 2004. "The Ahmad-Stern approach revisited: Variants and an application to Mexico," EGAP Working Papers 2004-05, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México.
    20. Seung-Rae Kim, 2002. "Environmental Taxes and Economic Welfare: The Welfare Cost of Gasoline Taxation in the U.S. 1959-1999," Public Economics 0201003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 May 2004.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:43:y:2012:i:1:p:31-66. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Aedin Doris (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.esr.ie .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.