Equivalence Scales in an Intertemporal Setting with an Application to the Former West Germany
Equivalence Scales in an Intertemporal Setting with an Application to the Former West Germany
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跨期背景下的等价量表及其在前西德的应用
DOI：
10.1111/1475-4991.00042
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发表时间：
2002
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
E. Charlier
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
E. Charlier
等价量表提供了以下问题的答案：与有两个孩子的家庭相比，有四个孩子的家庭需要花多少钱，或者与单人家庭相比，无孩子夫妇需要花多少钱才能达到相同的福利水平。这些对于儿童津贴、社会福利以及评估儿童整个生命周期的成本等都是重要的问题。从理论角度来看，后者也很有趣，特别是如果允许未来事件不确定的话。我们讨论具有不确定性的跨期环境中的等价尺度。为了估计等价量表，我们使用生活满意度和收入满意度的主观数据来代表福利水平。由于满意度是在离散尺度上测量的，因此我们在估计中使用有限的因变量模型。结果基于德国家庭小组 (GSOEP)。利用生活满意度数据，我们发现较大的家庭不需要任何额外收入就可以像夫妻一样对生活感到满意。然而，使用收入满意度表明，家庭规模的增加会导致收入满意度显着下降。该结果用于计算等价尺度。
Equivalence scales provide answers to questions like how much a household with four children needs to spend compared to a household with two children or how much a childless couple needs to spend compared to a single person household to attain the same welfare level. These are important questions for child allowances, social benefits and to assess the cost of children over the life-cycle for example. The latter is also interesting from a theoretical point of view, especially if future events are allowed to be uncertain. We discuss equivalence scales in an intertemporal setting with uncertainty. To estimate equivalence scales we use subjective data on satisfaction with life and satisfaction with income to represent the welfare level. Because satisfaction is measured on a discrete scale we use limited dependent variable models in estimation. The results are based on a panel from German households (GSOEP). Using satisfaction with life data we find that larger households do not need any additional income to be as satisfied with their life as a couple. Using satisfaction with income, however, indicates that an increase in the household size leads to a significant drop in the satisfaction with their income. This result is used to compute equivalence scales.