Family-type subsistence incomes

Arbeitspapier

Different family types may have a fixed flow of consumption costs, related to subsistence needs. We use a survey method in order to identify and estimate such a fixed component of spending for different families. Our method involves making direct questions about the linkup between aggregate disposable family income and well-being for different family types. Conducting our survey in six countries, Germany, France, Cyprus, China, India and Botswana, we provide evidence that fixed costs of consumption are embedded in welfare evaluations of respondents. More precisely, we find that the formalized relationship between welfare-retaining aggregate family incomes across different family types, suggested by Donaldson and Pendakur (2005) and termed 'Generalized Absolute Equivalence Scale Exactness,' is prevalent and robust in our data. We use this relationship to identify subsistence needs of different family types and to calculate income inequality.

Object Details

• ISBN: 3938369310
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Diskussionsbeiträge ; No. 2006/5

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; General Welfare; Well-Being ; Measurement and Analysis of Poverty ; Classification Discontinued 2008. See C83. ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
• Subject: subsistence ; equivalence scales ; survey method ; generalized equivalence scale exactness ; Existenzminimum ; Familie ; Deutschland ; Frankreich ; China ; Indien ; Botsuana ; Zypern

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Koulovatianos, Christos ; Schröder, Carsten ; Schmidt, Ulrich
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaft
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2006

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/28032
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET