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Measuring living standards with income and consumption: evidence from the UK

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  • Brewer, Mike
  • O'Dea, Cormac

Abstract

This paper compares consumption and income as measures of households’ living standards using UK data. It presents evidence that income is likely to be under-recorded for households with low resources. It describes the different impressions one gets about trends in the level and inequality of living standards in the UK when using consumption, and when one adds an imputed income from housing, rather than near-cash income. It describes what different impressions one gets about the composition of households with low living standards if these are identified with consumption rather than income.

Suggested Citation

  • Brewer, Mike & O'Dea, Cormac, 2012. "Measuring living standards with income and consumption: evidence from the UK," ISER Working Paper Series 2012-05, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:ese:iserwp:2012-05
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    Cited by:

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    2. Antoine Bozio & Guy Laroque & Cormac O’Dea, 2017. "Discount rate heterogeneity among older households: a puzzle?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 647-680, April.
    3. Justin van de Ven & Nicolas Hérault, 2019. "The evolution of tax implicit value judgements, redistribution and income inequality in the UK: 1968 to 2015," Working Papers 498, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    4. Tomas Lichard & Jan Hanousek & Randall K. Filer, 2012. "Measuring the Shadow Economy: Endogenous Switching Regression with Unobserved Separation," Economics Working Paper Archive at Hunter College 438, Hunter College Department of Economics.
    5. James Cloyne & Clodomiro Ferreira & Paolo Surico, 2020. "Monetary Policy when Households have Debt: New Evidence on the Transmission Mechanism," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 102-129.
    6. Reza Najarzadeh & Alireza Keikha & Hassan Heydari, 2021. "Dynamics of consumption distribution and economic fluctuations," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 847-876, August.
    7. Mike Brewer & Liam Wren-Lewis, 2016. "Accounting for Changes in Income Inequality: Decomposition Analyses for the UK, 1978–2008," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(3), pages 289-322, June.
    8. Thomas F. Crossley & Hamish Low & Cormac O'Dea, 2013. "Household Consumption through Recent Recessions," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(2), pages 203-229, June.
    9. Figari, Francesco & Paulus, Alari & Sutherland, Holly, 2014. "Microsimulation and policy analysis," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-23, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    10. Yang, Lin, 2018. "The net effect of housing related costs and advantages on the relationship between inequality and poverty," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103462, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Hanousek, Jan & Lichard, Tomáš & Torosyan, Karine, 2016. "‘Flattening’ the Tax Evasion: Evidence from the Post-Communist Natural Experiment," CEPR Discussion Papers 11229, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Musiwa, Anthony Shuko, 2019. "Multidimensional child poverty in Zimbabwe: Extent, risk patterns and implications for policy, practice and research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Gabriella Donatiello & Marcello D’Orazio & Doriana Frattarola & Antony Rizzi & Mauro Scanu & Mattia Spaziani, 2014. "Statistical Matching of Income and Consumption Expenditures," International Journal of Economic Sciences, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(3), pages 50-65.
    14. Tess Penne & Irene Cussó Parcerisas & Lauri Mäkinen & Bérénice Storms & Tim Goedemé, 2016. "Can reference budgets be used as a poverty line?," ImPRovE Working Papers 16/05, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    15. Paolo Surico & Clodomiro Ferreira & James Cloyne, 2015. "Housing Debt and the Transmission of Monetary Policy," 2015 Meeting Papers 629, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    16. Ana Cinta G. Cabral & Norman Gemmell & Nazila Alinaghi, 2021. "Are survey-based self-employment income underreporting estimates biased? New evidence from matched register and survey data," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(2), pages 284-322, April.
    17. Elena Dalla Chiara & Federico Perali, 2022. "Relational Well-being and the Many Dimensions of Poverty in Italy," Working Papers 6, SITES.
    18. Randall K. Filer & Jan Hanousek & Tomáš Lichard & Karine Torosyan, 2019. "‘Flattening’ tax evasion? : Evidence from the post‐communist natural experiment," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 27(1), pages 223-246, January.
    19. Cabral, Ana Cinta G. & Gemmell, Norman, 2018. "Estimating Self-Employment Income-Gaps from Register and Survey Data: Evidence for New Zealand," Working Paper Series 7625, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
    20. Claire Lebarz, 2015. "Income Inequality and Household Debt Distribution: A Cross-Country Analysis using Wealth Surveys," LWS Working papers 20, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

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