Subjective poverty equivalence scales for Euro Zone countries
While the idea behind subjective equivalence scales is generally attractive, subjective scales have been plagued by problems of inconsistency. We address this problem with new European Income and Living Conditions (SILC) datasets that are much larger in size than those available to previous researchers. We estimate subjective equivalence scales for the whole Euro Zone as well as its individual constituent countries. Our subjective scales increase consistently with household size. More importantly, we find that adding the first child is more costly than adding a third adult and that the marginal cost of children declines. Comparing modified OECD scale poverty rates to our subjective poverty rates (holding the overall poverty rate constant) we find that the subjective scales ‘redistribute poverty’ away from larger to smaller households.
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| Length: | 20 pages |
| Date of creation: | 2011 |
| Date of revision: | |
| Handle: | RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2011-233 |
| Contact details of provider: | Web page: http://www.ecineq.org Email: More information through EDIRC
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References listed on IDEAS
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- Thesia I. Garner & Kathleen Short, 2005. "Personal Assessments of Minimum Income and Expenses: What Do They Tell Us about 'Minimum Living' Thresholds and Equivalence Scales?," Working Papers 379, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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- Andrea Brandolini, 2007. "Measurement of income distribution in supranational entities: the case of the European Union," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 623, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
- Olken, Benjamin A., 2005. "Revealed community equivalence scales," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 545-566, February.
- van Praag, Bernard M S & Hagenaars, Aldi J M & van Weeren, Hans, 1982. "Poverty in Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 28(3), pages 345-59, September.
- Federico Perali & Martina Menon, 2009. "Econometric Identification of the Cost of Maintaining a Child," Working Papers 63/2009, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
- John A. Bishop & Feijun Luo & Xi Pan, 2006. "Economic Transition And Subjective Poverty In Urban China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 52(4), pages 625-641, December.
- de Vos, Klaas & Zaidi, M Asghar, 1997. "Equivalence Scale Sensitivity of Poverty Statistics for the Member States of the European Community," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 43(3), pages 319-33, September.
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