Household-level analysis of the impacts of electricity consumption on welfare and the environment in Cambodia: Empirical evidence and policy implications

Cambodia’s biomass consumption is the most dominant energy source at residential sector, and its use is mainly for cooking and heating which could affect health due to indoor air pollution. The biomass is mainly sourced from wood cutting and forest-encroachment that could impact the environment due to reduction of forest at considerable scale. By using the data 2015 of Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey, the study investigates the impacts of electricity consumption on household welfare, such as earnings and the school performance of children in the households, and further to investigate its impacts on the environment. The study found that household’s access to electricity with ability to spend on electricity consumption contributes to the positive household welfare effects and environment via a reduction of biomass consumption, and the more household spends on biomass, the more they are prone to sickness of lung problem. The study also confirmed the important role of human capital formation for the positive impact on the welfare and the environment. These findings lead to policy implications that would improve affordable access to electricity to ensure that all households can use electricity for their basic needs and productivity, and also to reduce the negative effects on environment.     

Domestic technology,consumption economies of scale and poverty: evidence from Sri Lanka

While it is well known that new technologies enhance consumer welfare, the manner in which these technologies impact the ability to realize economies of scale in consumption is not well understood. We use Sri Lankan household data to examine how the adoption of new technologies by households positively impacts their ability to achieve household economies of scale. This suggests that new technologies not only deliver a greater variety of consumption goods to consumers, but they may also play an important role in enabling large households to escape poverty by lowering the per-capita costs of maintaining a given standard of living. Given the importance of consumption economies of scale in the measurement of poverty, this study provides some insights on the extent to which the number of poor households changes when food consumption scale economies due to technology adoption in the domestic sphere are incorporated.     

Your misfortune is also mine: Land expropriation,property rights insecurity,and household behaviors in rural China

Using a unique nationwide survey of rural China, we examine the effects of property rights insecurity (PRI) created by undercompensated land requisitions (ULRs). To preclude the confounding impact of land losses on the behavior of displaced households, we adopt a novel approach comparing unaffected households in counties with massive ULRs and their counterparts in land-requisitioned counties without widespread ULRs, adjusted by their respective control group households in adjacent non-land-requisitioned counties. The group from counties with widespread ULRs exhibits significantly lower trust in local governments, employs risk-proof strategies to cope with perceived PRI, and experiences a decline in farming efficiency and household welfare.     

家庭异质性视角下城乡居民家庭碳排放研究——以陕西为例

为把握城乡居民各种口径碳排放的变动趋势,借鉴IPCC推荐方法及投入产出分析方法,分别测算2005—2017年陕西省居民家庭各种口径的碳排放量,发现陕西城镇家庭各口径碳排放量均高于农村家庭;为分析引起城乡居民家庭直接和间接碳排放总量变动的深层原因,借鉴对数平均迪氏指数分解(LMDI)模型,发现家庭人均收入、家庭户数效应、家庭规模效应、能源消费结构、能源消费强度、家庭消费率、家庭消费结构等表征家庭异质性的变量对城乡家庭直接及间接碳排放总量有不同程度的正向驱动或负向驱动效应,并根据研究结论对地方政府控制家庭碳排放量提出政策建议。     

Does more cash in conditional cash transfer programs always lead to larger impacts on school attendance?

There is considerable evidence that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs can have large impacts on school enrollment, including in very poor countries. However, little is known about what features of program design account for the observed outcomes. In this paper we analyze the impact of a program in Cambodia that made payments of varying magnitude to otherwise comparable households. The identification is based on a sharp regression discontinuity design. We find that a modest cash transfer, equivalent to approximately 2% of the consumption of the median recipient household, had a substantial impact on school attendance, approximately 25 percentage points. A somewhat larger transfer did not raise attendance rates above this level.     

THE IMPACT OF LOW‐INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM PARTICIPATION ON HOUSEHOLD ENERGY INSECURITY

The impact of the low‐income home energy assistance program (LIHEAP), the single largest energy assistance program available to poor households in the United States has received little rigorous attention. If LIHEAP participation significantly improves low‐income household energy security, funding cuts or eliminating the program could negatively impact the poor. This article empirically estimates the impact of LIHEAP on household energy security. The results indicate participation in LIHEAP significantly increases energy security in low‐income households. Simulations suggest that elimination of the current household energy‐assistance safety net will decrease the number of low‐income energy secure households by over 17%. (JEL I38, Q48)     

城市居住区内家庭直接能耗碳排放差异研究

家庭能源消费对环境的影响已经成为可持续发展领域热点研究课题之一。基于微观视角,采用多段抽取的方法从南阳市一商业居住区内选取128户家庭进行住户的调研,针对具有不同的家庭规模、家庭收入、房屋所有权、家庭成员节能意识及能源知识掌握程度的家庭,分别分析了其直接能耗CO2排放量和结构上的差异。用多元逐步回归的方法,得到了家庭成员节能意识强烈度、家庭人口、家庭成年人平均文化程度、能源知识掌握程度等是造成同一居住区内家庭CO2排放差异的显著性因子,家庭成员节能意识的强烈程度、能源知识的掌握程度与家庭直接能耗CO2排放量呈负相关,因此,加强对居民的能源知识的普及和节能意识的强化可以降低家庭直接能耗的CO2排放量。     

Give and Take Between Households and the State: Development and Application of A Benefaction–Contribution Ratio

This study defines a “Benefaction–Contribution Ratio” (BCR), describing the extent to which households are net beneficiaries of or contributors to the economy in relation to income and consumption. Such issues are central to assessment and targeting of policies such as social welfare and taxation. We apply the ratio to 21,144 South African households. South Africa employs various taxation‐funded social grants and subsidized services. A central question is how such transfers affect real household income and consumption. We find that the constitution of social transfers as a function of tax adjusted earned income significantly augments household buying power. Furthermore, we hypothesize and find a negative curvilinear shape which has implications for design of taxation and welfare. This constitution and distribution of this ratio may be useful for international benchmarking and household planning, and as an economic predictor of outcomes such as job seeking, entrepreneurial behavior, family planning, migration, and tax evasion.     

Socioeconomic Impacts of Public Forest Policies on Heterogeneous Agricultural Households

Nepal has a long history of returning public forests to local people as part of its community forestry programme. In principle the community forestry programme is designed to address both environmental quality and poverty alleviation. However, concern has been expressed that forest policies emphasise environmental conservation, and that this has a detrimental impact on the use of community forests in rural Nepal where households require access to public forest products to sustain livelihoods. To study the effect of government policies on forest use, an economic model of a typical small community of economically heterogeneous households in Nepal was developed. The model incorporates a link between private agriculture and public forest resources, and uses this link to assess the socioeconomic impacts of forest policies on the use of public forests. Socioeconomic impacts were measured in terms of household income, employment and income inequality. The results show that some forest policies have a negative economic impact, and the impacts are more serious than those reported by other studies. This study shows that existing forest policies reduce household income and employment, and widen income inequalities within communities, compared to alternative policies. Certain forest policies even constrain the poorest households?? ability to meet survival needs. The findings indicate that the socioeconomic impacts of public forest policies may be underestimated in developing countries unless household economic heterogeneity and forestry??s contribution to production are accounted for. The study also demonstrates that alternative policies for managing common property resources would reduce income inequalities in rural Nepalese communities and lift incomes and employment to a level where even the poorest households could meet their basic needs.     

中国城镇家庭能源贫困评估*——基于微观调查数据的研究

我国扶贫工作重点已进入新阶段,从消除绝对贫困向缓解发展不平衡、不充分的相对贫困转变,从解决收入贫困向解决多维贫困转变,从重点解决农村贫困问题向统筹城乡扶贫转变。能源是人民生活质量的重要指标,能有效反映福利水平。了解我国城镇家庭能源消费的基本特征、准确测度能源贫困水平与分布,有助于为今后扶贫工作提供资料基础和科学管理依据。本文构建消费者能源消费决策分析框架,并运用第一次中国家庭能源消费调查数据,考察居民收入与能源消费之间的关系,并对中国城镇家庭能源贫困状况进行测度。研究发现,居民收入与能源消费之间存在S型非线性关系,能源价格、家庭特征、地域特征等因素在能源消费决策中都发挥重要影响。我国城镇家庭相对能源贫困较为严重,主要表现为能源可支付性问题。能源贫困率在20%左右,其中电力贫困程度更为严重,超过25%。家庭收入增长、户主受教育程度提高、城市电力基础设施的普及、城市环境规制水平的提升会显著降低城镇家庭陷入能源贫困的可能性,而电力价格上涨会显著增加城镇家庭陷入能源贫困的概率。     

我国农户行为特殊性与最优社会保障规模

社会保障规模的设定目标在于使经济中个体的福利水平不受到风险冲击的影响。在中国当前经济环境下,农户经营和消费等决策行为的现实特殊性导致了标准最优社会保障规模理论的结论不再适用。为保障农户长期福利水平最大,当前我国农村小农经济地区需要比城市产业化经济更大规模的社会保障制度。其中的逻辑在于农户自我经营性特征导致了农户对于风险厌恶的增加,并且生产经营预付资金使得从负向冲击中恢复的困难更大,同时借贷约束更加严重;而为人力资本储蓄动机使得从负向冲击中恢复所付出的成本更高。这些结果都导致增加社会保障规模能够极大地提高经济中个体的福利水平。     

CREDIT CRUNCH AND HOUSEHOLD WELFARE,THE CASE OF THE KOREAN FINANCIAL CRISIS*

We examine how the credit crunch in Korea in the late 1990s affected household behaviour and welfare. Using 1996–1998 household panel data, we estimate a consumption Euler equation, augmented by endogenous credit constraints. Korean households coped with the negative shocks of the 1997 credit crunch by reducing consumption of luxury items while maintaining food, education and health related expenditures. Our results show that, in 1997–1998, during the crisis, the probability of facing credit constraints and the resulting expected welfare loss from the binding constraints increased significantly, suggesting the gravity of the credit crunch at the household level.     

Is increased agricultural protection beneficial for South Africa?

Using a top down computable general equilibrium microsimulation model of South Africa, this paper explores the impact on household well being of an increase in agricultural protection. This issue is of broader relevance to developing countries that may be contemplating the use of World Trade Organisation permissible trade barriers so as to achieve a domestic policy objective. The model predicts that gross domestic product would be unaffected while real private consumption falls. The real exchange rate appreciates while unemployment levels are unaffected. Food, other manufactures, trade and hotels are the clear losers. All other industries experience small positive gains or no impact on their output. The impact on households depends on their factor endowments and their consumption patterns. The impacts on poverty reduction are very small. Poverty indicators increase more in urban areas than in rural areas. Poverty increases slightly more among Asian households, followed by White and then Coloured households. African households experience small declines in poverty.     

Labour Migration,Food Expenditure,and Household Food Security in Eastern Indonesia

This paper investigates the impact of migration on the food expenditure and household food security status of migrant‐sending households using data from eastern Indonesia. We find that migration significantly increases food expenditure and overall household expenditure. Combining the food frequency and food consumption module of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (East), this paper shows that having at least one migrant in the family increases the composite index of Food Consumption Score, as well as the family's food security. Evaluation of food diversity also shows that migration increases expenditure on six out of ten food groups.     

农户金融抑制及其福利损失的计量分析

本文运用biprobit模型和match模型,采用3000个农户的微观数据,计量分析了农户金融抑制的程度及其福利损失的大小。研究发现,农户金融抑制的程度为70.92%;由于金融抑制,所有样本农户平均所损失的纯收入、净经营收入、消费性支出和非土地性资产分别为9.43%、15.43%、15.57%和14.58%,直接受到金融抑制的样本农户平均所损失的纯收入、净经营收入、消费性支出和非土地性资产分别为9.55%、16.83%、16.46%和14.70%;土地面积、教育和医疗费用支出,对农户资金需求具有正的显著影响,金融资产余额对农户资金需求具有负的显著影响,生产性固定资产原值、受教育水平、交通条件和地理位置对农户资金需求的影响不显著;土地面积、受教育程度、地理位置和“关系”对资金供给具有正的显著影响,固定资产总值、交通条件对资金供给的影响不显著。     

A Micro-Econometric Analysis of Determinants of Unsustainable Consumption in The Netherlands

Recently, much attention has been given to the notion of `sustainable consumption'. Whereas environmental economics traditionally has focused environmental policy analysis on producers, this new notion broadens the perspective to include environmental policies aimed at directly influencing consumer decisions regarding buying, using, and recycling products. This could suggest policies that link not only to price incentives, but also and especially to persuasive instruments, such as education and information provision. These policies might take into account certain characteristics of households, such as lifestyle and family size. This article presents a first econometric analysis of consumption in the context of environmental sustainability. Relationships between different types of household expenditures and a range of household characteristics are assessed, based on a large micro data set of households for the Netherlands. Use is made of various demand models and econometric techniques to adequately address theoretical and technical issues involved. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of the results for environmental policy directed at stimulating sustainable consumption.     

Economic and Welfare Impacts of Climate Change on Developing Countries

The impact of global climate change on developing countries is analyzed using CGE-multimarket models for three archetype economies representing the poor cereal importing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The objective is to compare the effects of climate change on the macroeconomic performance, sectoral resource allocation, and household welfare across continents. Simulations help identify those underlying structural features of economies which are the primary determinants of differential impacts; these are suggestive of policy instruments to countervail undesirable effects. Results show that all these countries will potentially suffer income and production losses. However, Africa, with its low substitution possibilities between imported and domestic foods, fares worst in terms of income losses and the drop in consumption of low income households. Countervailing policies to mitigate negative effects should focus on integration in the international market and the production of food crops in Africa, and on the production of export crops in Latin America and Asia.     

Inequality and Trade Policy: The Pro‐Poor Bias of Contemporary Trade Restrictions

This paper studies the pro‐poor bias of trade policy in India by estimating the household welfare effects of removing the current protection structure. The elimination of a pro‐poor trade policy is expected to have a negative differential welfare effect at the low end of the distribution. The paper first constructs trade restrictiveness indexes for household consumption items and industries using both tariffs and non‐tariff barriers. The results indicate that Indian trade policy is regressive through the expenditure channel as it disproportionately raises the cost of consumption for poorer households, while it is progressive through the earnings channel. Based on the net welfare effects, the elimination of the current trade protection structure is estimated to reduce inequality. These results indicate that a trade policy that is progressive through the earnings channel may induce a price effect that is regressive through the expenditure channel.     

老龄化如何影响我国家庭消费支出——来自中国综合社会调查的证据

基于中国综合社会调查（CGSS)的数据，本文谨慎定义老龄家庭后实证检验了老龄化对我国家庭消费支出的影响。研究发现，老龄化将使家庭消费支出显著下降并对大多数消费分项支出产生较大负面影响，同时会大幅提升家庭医疗服务支出；收入是老龄化影响家庭消费的重要中间变量。基于城乡分类子样本研究发现，乡村家庭受老龄化冲击异常严重，乡村医疗服务供给存在较大缺口。基于分层的城镇子样本回归发现，老龄化对城镇家庭消费的冲击集中体现在较低分位家庭。     

The Marginal Costs and Benefits of Redistributing Income and the Willingness to Pay for Status

The effect of status on aggregate welfare is ambiguous for marginal reforms that redistribute income. If average consumption falls, the change in relative consumption increases household utility but reinforces the decrease in household labor supply, raising welfare cost. For parameterizations of the model developed here, reforms which lower average consumption increase aggregate welfare. Numerical calculations show that status increases marginal welfare cost and marginal net benefit for a demogrant reform. Redistributing to high income households may increase aggregate welfare depending on the definition of average consumption and if the willingness to pay for status increases with income.