Some things couples always wanted to know about stable matchings (but were afraid to ask)

In this note we study the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) algorithm in the US market for physicians. We report on two problems that concern the presence of couples, a feature explicitly incorporated in the new NRMP algorithm (cf. Roth and Peranson in Am Econ Rev 89:748–780, 1999). First, we show that the new NRMP algorithm may not find an existing stable matching, even when couples’ preferences are ‘responsive’, i.e., when Gale and Shapley’s (Am Math Monthly 69:9–15, 1962) deferred acceptance algorithm (on which the old NRMP algorithm is based) is applicable. Second, we demonstrate that the new NRMP algorithm may also be anipulated by couples acting as singles.      

Competitive equilibria in Shapley–Scarf markets with couples

We investigate the existence and properties of competitive equilibrium in Shapley–Scarf markets involving an exogenous partition of individuals into couples. The presence of couples generates preference interdependencies which cause existence problems. For both cases of transferable and non-transferable income among partners, we establish properties for preferences that are sufficient for the existence of an equilibrium. Moreover, we show that these properties define a maximal preference domain.     

Household Surveys,Consumption, and the Measurement of Poverty

Household surveys are playing an increasingly important role in the measurement of poverty and well-being around the world. The Living Standards Measurement Study, which was begun in the World Bank under the guidance of Graham Pyatt in 1979, has played an important role in this movement. Its surveys are widely used within the Bank to measure consumption-based poverty, and survey data are now the exclusive basis for the global poverty counts. This paper discusses a number of unresolved issues in using consumption-based surveys for measuring well-being, including the choice of a money-metric versus welfare-ratio approach, the collection of suitable price information, the effects of measurement error on estimation, and methods for correcting per capita consumption for the demographic structure of the household.     

Do homeowners achieve more household wealth in the long run?

Despite the public’s faith in homeownership as a vehicle for wealth creation, there are surprisingly few empirical studies of the independent impact of homeownership and its duration on household wealth accumulation. This paper provides the first empirical evidence that homeownership, after controlling for other drivers of wealth accumulation, is positively and significantly associated with wealth accumulation over time. Using the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, it examines the influence of housing tenure choices between 1989 and 2001 on household net wealth levels in 2001 after controlling for initial wealth in 1989, location, income, education, and other family and personal characteristics that might influence the rate of wealth accumulation. Importantly, the models used also control for the tendency of households to accumulate wealth between 1984 and 1989 (five years prior to the studied period). This approach is used to address the possibility that an unobserved variable—the propensity to save or accumulate wealth—may be associated with both the probability and duration of homeownership and the rate of wealth accumulation. All else equal, those who owned homes and owned for longer periods of time had significantly higher household net wealth by 2001. These results are compelling because house price appreciation over the period was near its long-run average while stock gains were above and real rent increases below their long-run averages. Hence, the findings are suggestive of a positive influence of ownership over long periods on net wealth, even during a period when alternative investments produced higher than normal returns and rents grew slowly. This is especially important because the overwhelmingly majority of households do not sell their homes shortly after buying them. In our sample, those who became owners typically owned for 7 years. Furthermore, most households that bought during a period of declining real home values in the early 1990s continued to own their homes for at least eight years and came out well ahead of those who did not own.     

城市生活垃圾困境与制度创新——以台北市生活垃圾分类收集管理为例

我国许多城市正面临“垃圾围城”困境,这种困境其实并非城市化的必然结果,困境的根源在于我国城市生活垃圾管理的制度缺失.制度缺失既包括我国城市垃圾分类收集方面的法律缺乏明确而可操作性的权利义务界定,也包括垃圾收费制度没有体现“多排放垃圾多付费”的原则,致使我国城市生活垃圾的分类收集成效甚微.我国台北市将垃圾分类收集与垃圾费...     

What happens to household formation in a recession?

While many studies have investigated the determinants of housing demand, very few studies have focused on how economic conditions affect the formation of potential households directly. Potential households may choose to delay entry into the housing market by remaining with one’s parents during times of economic hardship or by combining with other persons to share housing costs. Using a variety of modeling approaches, we find that both the increase in the unemployment rate and the presence of recessions reduce the rate of household formation. Simulations suggest that these declines are substantively important. For example, in a recession, the likelihood that a young adult will form an independent household falls by 1–9% points depending on the age of the person. By way of comparison, if an individual is unemployed, the likelihood of leaving the parental home is up to 11% points lower.     

Household production, full consumption and the costs of children

Recent work criticises both the logic and relevance of the theoretical basis of the approach to estimating the costs of raising children adopted in much of the economics literature. This tends to be restricted purely to models in which the household members consume market goods with given household income. The “costs of children” are perceived essentially as market consumption costs. This ignores the fact that an important, possibly preponderant element of child costs takes the form of parental time, which must be diverted from alternative uses such as market work, other household production activities, and leisure, to care for children. The studies also ignore the question of the differential incidence of child costs on adult members of the household. In this paper, we first of all argue that a satisfactory theoretical approach to modelling child costs must simultaneously incorporate an “individualistic” formulation of the household and a formal treatment of household production. We then provide such a model. Using data from a time use survey we estimate specialised versions of the model for families with two children and use the results to derive the intra-family distribution of resources and implied child-rearing costs.     

家庭部门信贷与经济增长关系研究——基于对转型国家的实证分析

本文利用28个转型国家1999～2009年的数据,对企业和家庭信贷结构与经济增长之间的关系进行实证检验,并进一步对家庭信贷影响经济增长的机制进行分析。研究表明,与企业信贷对经济增长有促进作用不同,这些转型国家家庭信贷的扩张对经济增长有负的影响作用。家庭信贷主要通过经常项目对宏观经济产生影响。     

家庭储蓄与通货膨胀数理关系及实证分析

本文从理论与实证两方面分析通货膨胀与家庭储蓄的作用关系。基于生命周期理论构建家庭储蓄数理模型,由此建立家庭储蓄与通货膨胀因素之间的关联机制;利用所建模型在数学上严格证明家庭储蓄率与通货膨胀率为正向关系;利用1978~2013年统计数据实证分析通货膨胀因素与中国家庭储蓄率之间的数量关系。结果表明,长期来看,家庭储蓄与通货膨胀为正向关系。     

Constructing SAMs for Development Policy Analysis: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead

The aim of this paper is to appraise a few of the key innovative features of the early work in compiling SAMs for development policy analysis; to set out and review some recent methodological advances; and to identify those areas where compilation continues to be problematic. It briefly re-visits the features of the SAM as an integrating framework and sets out its relationship to the SNA 1993. The main compilation problems faced in practice arise from assembling the household accounts from household survey data where income data are especially unreliable and are difficult to link to the factor accounts and to income transfers. Experience is drawn from the construction of a Ghana SAM. In the literature relatively more attention has been devoted to balancing and data reconciliation methods, which are briefly reviewed, although these are second order adjustments and much still depends on the quality of the initial estimates     

家用电器与电子产品质量风险分析

家用电器与电子产品已成为现代生活必需品,其产品质量问题不容忽视。本文首先阐述了该领域的行业现状,指出行业内存在的普遍问题。进而对产品质量存在的主要风险、风险形成原因进行详细分析,并对质量风险级别进行研判。最后提出提高产品质量,降低产品风险的应对方法。本文可为相关检验检测人员、生产厂家、消费者提供参考。     

Effects of Household Consumption Patterns on CO2 Requirements

In order to evaluate the relation between the consumption pattern of various household types and their CO₂ requirements, we combine input-output tables energy flow matrices, CO₂ emissions factors, and national consumer survey statistics into an integrated modelling framework, and relate differences in household types to differences in private consumption and again to differences in CO₂ emissions. We identify household characteristics with a significant influence on CO₂ emissions. Comparing our results with those of other studies reveals that national differences in climate and population density cause differences in the contribution to CO₂ emissions. Finally, national differences in income and expenditure elasticities of both energy and CO₂ are due to differences in the disparity in CO₂ intensities amongst commodities and to the model's assumptions on foreign technology.     

二代优先:当前城市户籍政策调整的一种思路

城市户籍政策调整对于统筹城乡发展、促进社会和谐有着至关重要的战略意义.本文在充分剖析当前户籍制度改革困境的基础上,提出了“二代优先”的户籍政策调整新思路,即允许流动人口子女先于父母双方获得城市常住户口,其基本前提是其父母已经在该城市就业、居住达到一定的年限.这一政策可以较好地与现有落户政策衔接,具有较高的可行性,并且有...