澳大利亚家庭财富的结构与分配

《经济与社会变化的动态研究——澳大利亚家庭收入与就业动态调查之分析》,是一项大型的研究计划。本文只是该计划之下的一个子课题。这项子课题获得澳大利亚研究理事会的资助,(拨款编号为DPO342970)。我们在文中引用的数据,部分来自家庭与社区服务部辖     

The Distribution and Composition of Personal Sector Wealth in Australia

This article begins by noting the scarcity of information on the distribution of wealth in Australia, and the many reasons for wanting to have such information. The potential role of the tax system in affecting the composition of wealth is noted, and the taxation of savings is briefly described. A number of different methods of estimating the distribution of wealth are discussed. Estimates for the distribution and composition of wealth in Australia in 1986 are derived from the 1986 Income Distribution Survey, which suggest that the wealthiest ten per cent of income units hold 55 per cent of total wealth. The composition of wealth is broadly consistent with the expected impact of the tax system.     

The Distribution of Household Health Expenditures in Australia*

Out‐of‐pocket health expenditures in Australia are high in international comparisons and have been growing at a faster rate than most other health costs in recent years. This raises concerns about the extent to which out‐of‐pocket costs have constrained access to health services for low income households. Using data from the ABS Household Expenditure Survey 2003–2004, we model the relationships between health expenditure shares and equivalised total expenditure for categories of out‐of‐pocket health expenditures and analyse the extent of protection given by concession cards. To allow for flexibility in the relationship we adopt Yatchew's semi‐parametric estimation technique. This is the first detailed distributional analysis of household health expenditures in Australia. We find mixed evidence for the protection health concession cards give against high out‐of‐pocket health expenditures. Despite higher levels of subsidy, households with concession cards do not have lower out‐of‐pocket expenditures than non‐cardholder households except for the highest expenditure quintile. Cards provide most protection for GP out‐of‐pocket expenditures.     

The Distribution of Wealth in Australia — A Survey*

This paper surveys and analyzes the available evidence on the distribution of wealth in Australia. On the basis of this evidence, it is argued that the cross-section distribution of personal wealth reveals considerable concentration in the top tail, with the top 1 per cent of adult individuals holding around 25 per cent of private wealth. The inequality of wealth revealed in the cross-section distribution among the top 10 per cent of wealth holders is not significantly reduced when adjustments are made to correct for life-cycle influences. Although the proportion of wealth held by the top 1 per cent of adult individuals has decreased sharply since World War I, the second to tenth percentiles have almost the same proportion in the 1960s and 1970s as in 1915.     

Consumption and Wealth in Australia

This paper examines the relationship between consumption and wealth in Australia. We find a steady-state relationship between non-durables consumption, labour income and aggregate household wealth for the period 1988–1999. We also find that changes in both non-financial and financial assets have significant but different short-run and long-run effects in dynamic consumption models. Finally, we place our results within the broader empirical literature and examine whether they are consistent with standard theories of consumption.     

Wealth and Consumption in Australia

We revisit the evidence on the effect of changes in household wealth on consumption using a panel of Australian states. We find that a one per cent increase in the value of housing wealth increases consumption by about 0.16 per cent in the long-run, with half of the response occurring within two quarters. The size of this response has been stable over time and largely reflects changes in spending on motor vehicles, durable goods and other discretionary items. We then run counterfactual scenarios using the Reserve Bank of Australia's macroeconometric model, MARTIN, to assess the macroeconomic effects of changes in household wealth. We show that increases in household wealth supported household spending between 2013 and 2017, when growth in disposable income was weak.     

How Much Do We Know About Wealth Distribution in Australia?

This paper surveys what is known about wealth distribution in Australia and concludes that our knowledge is scanty. The most reliable evidence comes from studies using probate returns and with the abolition of estate duties, these studies are becoming out of date. However, it is clear that wealth is very unequally distributed. The top 5 per cent of adult individuals own between 40 and 50 per cent of the wealth. This inequality is not just due to life cycle effects, and there is no strong evidence that wealth distribution has become more equal in Australia in the period since the First World War.     

Child Benefit Payments and Household Wealth Accumulation

Using the life‐cycle/permanent income hypothesis, we theoretically and empirically assess the impact of child benefit payments on household wealth accumulation. Consistent with the predictions of the model, we find that higher cumulative benefits received increase current assets, higher future benefit payments lower asset holding, and that these effects systematically vary over the life cycle. We find different wealth responses to child benefit payments for liquidity constrained and unconstrained households, as predicted by the model.     

The Relationship between Income,Wealth and Age in Australia

This article analyses the relationship between income, wealth, wealth‐adjusted income and age in Australia using a 2009–10 cross‐sectional data set. The main findings are: (i) wealth and wealth‐adjusted income generally rise with age, while income is constant across the life cycle; (ii) both income inequality and wealth inequality rise until mid‐life and fall thereafter, while wealth‐adjusted income inequality depends on the method of calculation used, one showing a fall in later life and another showing no fall; and (iii) after income, wealth and wealth‐adjusted income inequalities are adjusted for age, underlying inequality is lower in all three cases.     

The Inequality of Household Incomes in Australia*

This paper presents income inequality statistics for Australia calculated from the published results of the two official income surveys of 1968-69 and 1973-74. These results suggest firstly that the level of household income inequality in Australia has been previously understated. Secondly, it is noted that there was little, if any, change in inequality over the period. However, when families are classified by number of income earners an unambiguous decline in inequality within these groups occurs. These observations are related to other changes in the economy.     

房价收入比与家庭消费——基于房产财富效应的视角

运用中国家庭金融调查(CHFS)2011年、2013年和2015年数据,基于调查数据构建和计算城市房价收入比,分析房价收入比对家庭消费房产财富效应的影响,并进一步考察房价收入比对拥有两套及以上住房、有房出租、拥有大小产权房和不同收入阶层家庭消费房产财富效应的影响差异。研究发现:房价收入比高时家庭消费水平也相应较高,但房价收入比高却显著降低了家庭消费的房产财富弹性;拥有两套及以上住房、有房出租家庭消费的房产财富效应受房价收入比高的弱化影响更小,拥有大产权比小产权房更能抵御房价收入比高对消费房产财富效应的弱化影响,高收入家庭的抵御能力更强。     

Inequality and Wealth: Comparing the Gender Wealth Gap in Switzerland and Australia

ABSTRACT

Although the gender gap in incomes has been extensively researched, scant attention has been paid to the gender wealth gap. This paper compares the gender wealth gap in Australia with that of Switzerland. Using data from the 2010 Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) and the 2012 Swiss Household Panel (SHP), this study attributes the gender wealth gap to differences in permanent income and education. Furthermore, the gender wealth gap is much larger in Switzerland than in Australia. The study links this finding to the type of wealth held by individuals in these two countries. Differences in wealth accumulation among women in Switzerland and Australia are likely to be linked to the housing market and to family policies for (single) mothers.     

数字普惠金融与中国农村家庭财富差距

促进农民增收致富和推动乡村振兴是二十大关注的重要问题。本文使用中国家庭金融调查数据和数字普惠金融指数,用分位回归方法分析了数字普惠金融对中国农村家庭财富差距的影响。结果发现：数字普惠金融可以显著提高农村家庭财富,有助于缩小家庭财富差距。随着家庭财富由低到高,数字普惠金融对于农村不同财富家庭总资产的正向影响由大到小。由于不同财富家庭的负债结构差异较大,随着财富由低到高,数字普惠金融对家庭净资产的影响则由小到大。夏普里值分解结果表明,数字普惠金融对农村家庭财富差距的贡献度近三分之一。异质性分析表明,数字普惠金融发展对于低收入家庭和低教育水平家庭财富的正向作用更强,进一步证明了上述结论。机制分析表明,数字普惠金融能显著促进农村家庭特别是低财富家庭的创业行为,而创业对于最低财富组家庭资产的正向刺激作用最强;受流动性约束可能性越大的低财富家庭,越能从数字普惠金融的发展中获益。因而进一步证实数字普惠金融可以缩小农村家庭财富差距。本文的研究说明,发展数字普惠金融对于探索农民致富路径和推进乡村振兴有积极作用。     

数字渗透、金融普惠与家庭财富增长

数字金融已成为普惠金融发展中最具影响力的形态之一,是普惠金融发展的重要驱动力。文章采用中国家庭动态跟踪调查(CFPS)数据,研究了数字普惠金融促进家庭财富增长的效应及机制。研究发现,与传统普惠金融相比,数字普惠金融更能促进家庭总体财富规模的增长,运用工具变量的检验也证实了这一结论。异质性研究表明,数字普惠金融能够提升家庭的耐用消费品价值、金融资产价值和房产净值;数字普惠金融在货币基金和电子支付方面的使用深度能够增加家庭财富规模;数字普惠金融对城市家庭及中西部家庭的财富增长具有更强的促进作用。但"数字鸿沟"在一定程度上会削弱数字普惠金融对家庭财富的促进作用。     

Household Debt and Financial Constraints in Australia

Over the past decade, household debt (as a share of household income) has reached historically high levels. This has raised concerns about whether, as a result of the rise in debt, households are now more financially ‘fragile'. Using household survey data, a logit model is constructed to examine the relationship between the probability of being financially constrained and the economic and demographic characteristics of households in Australia. We find that the probability of a household being constrained is significantly affected by demographic and economic variables such as age, home ownership, weekly household income, and the share of income going to repayments on mortgage debt. Comparing survey results across time, it appears that the overall proportion of households that are financially constrained has fallen or, at worst, remained unchanged between 1994 and 2001. Much of the rise in debt appears to have been due to unconstrained households taking on more debt. As such, the rise in the aggregate debt to income ratio associated with owner‐occupier mortgages appears to be the result of voluntary household choice and not to be associated with an increase in household financial distress.