Estimating Consumption Responses to Income Shocks of Different Persistence Using Self‐Reported Income Measures

Models of intertemporal consumption choice posit that consumption reacts more strongly to income shocks with persistent effects than to shocks with temporary effects. This prediction is tested using data from the Estonian Household Budget Surveys for 2002–07. Questions in the survey make it possible to distinguish between two income components of different persistence, using the individual households’ subjective income classification. Estimations confirm that households distinguish income components of different persistence and react to these differently; the consumption response to income shocks with persistent effects is significantly higher than the response to shocks with only temporary effects. Further analysis reveals, however, that consumption also reacts to lagged shocks to temporary income even when the households are not liquidity constrained, suggesting that their behavior is not fully consistent with the standard forward‐looking unconstrained consumption models.     

村域地理环境对农户贫困持续性的影响——来自湖北农村的经验证据

村域地理环境通过影响农户面临的风险冲击和收入能力进而影响农户贫困持续性,本文利用2005~2010年湖北农户数据,采用生存分析方法,考察农户贫困持续性。结果表明,民族村农户退出贫困的概率显著低于非民族村农户,山区村农户退出贫困的概率显著低于平原和丘陵村农户,距离乡镇5~10 km农户退出贫困的概率显著低于其他农户;非农业劳动时间对民族村、山区村和距离乡镇5~10 km农户退出贫困的影响效应显著减弱;村人均耕地面积与农业劳动时间的交叉作用对农户退出贫困有显著正向影响。因此,本文建议扶贫政策应向民族村、山区村及距离乡镇5~10 km村的农户倾斜。一方面,通过适度扩大耕地规模和加大农业补贴力度,提高农户农业创收能力;另一方面,通过改善这些地区基础设施和公共服务水平,缩小农户在获取非农就业机会方面的差距。     

Persistence of cities: Evidence from China

Using data from the Qing dynasty, we investigate the long‐run impact of early development on today's living standards in China. We use city‐level population density in 1776 as a measure of early economic prosperity, and examine how it is associated with today's development indicators such as the average night light density, GDP per capita, average years of schooling, and trade openness. We find that cities which were more prosperous during the Qing dynasty are now also brighter, richer, more educated, and more open.     

Migration and Land Rental as Responses to Income Shocks in Rural China

Using longitudinal household survey data from rural China and an identification strategy based on observed rainfall realizations, we are able to test household responses to idiosyncratic and covariate income shocks. We find that negative idiosyncratic income shocks increase migration and elicit household out rental of land. The effect of covariate income shocks is generally dependent on both the timing and the nature of the shock. Our results suggest that rainfall deficiencies during paddy maturing or harvesting seasons reduce the number of migrants by raising the marginal value product of farm labour, thereby increasing the opportunity costs associated with migration.     

迁移、自选择与收入分配-来自中国城乡的证据

本文强调两个事实:第一,农村居民并非同质,他们根据自身的特征决定迁移与否;第二,那些成功地改变了户籍身份的永久移民与没能改变户籍身份的临时移民之间有着显著的差异.利用2002年的CHIP数据发现,永久移民的"正选择"效应非常明显,它使得农村地区教育水平较高、处于收入分布较高位置的样本减少.这导致农村的收入水平和农村内部的不平等程度降低,阻碍了城乡差距的降低.相反,临时移民的选择效应几乎可以忽略不计.     

迁移、自选择与收入分配-来自中国城乡的证据

本文强调两个事实:第一,农村居民并非同质,他们根据自身的特征决定迁移与否;第二,那些成功地改变了户籍身份的永久移民与没能改变户籍身份的临时移民之间有着显著的差异。利用2002年的CHIP数据发现,永久移民的正选择效应非常明显,它使得农村地区教育水平较高、处于收入分布较高位置的样本减少。这导致农村的收入水平和农村内部的不平等程度降低,阻碍了城乡差距的降低。相反,临时移民的选择效应几乎可以忽略不计。     

Life Course Perspective on Economic Shocks and Income Inequality Through Age-Period-Cohort Analysis: Evidence From Finland

Utilizing age-period-cohort analysis, this paper examines the development of income distribution across periodic economic fluctuations in relation to cohorts and age groups. The empirical analysis is based on the Finnish Income Distribution Statistics and Household Expenditure Surveys covering the period of 1966–2015. The findings suggest that the period and cohort effects can be identified as the main effects on relative income, while the age effects have no meaningful impact when the control variables are taken into account. This result reveals a connection between the effects of economic shocks and cohort placement on labor market entry. Additionally, absolute income analysis suggests that economic shocks create stagnation points in income development, which are especially detrimental to cohorts who are transitioning into labor markets. Additionally, middle-income attainment has not changed due to periodic shocks but rather is related to inter-cohort inequalities and relative income differences, where the baby boomer generation is a clear winner.     

Non-farm Income and Consumption Expenditures in Rural Bangladesh: Empirical Evidence from Multilevel Regression Modelling

This study examines the effects of non-farm income on household consumption expenditures in rural Bangladesh. A two-stage endogenous treatment effect model is built on data from a nationally representative Household Income Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010 to control selection bias. The HIES follows a hierarchical data structure because the survey is based on two-stage stratified sampling. A multilevel mixed-effects linear regression model is used to capture the unobserved heterogeneity between clusters (PSUs) along with revealing important factors. Results reveal that non-farm income has a significant positive effect on household’s consumption expenditures and non-farm income recipient households spend about 29% more than their counterparts. In addition, higher level of per capita income, education, smaller family size and lower dependency ratio are found to be more effective in increasing consumption expenditures of rural households. Significant cluster-level variations are observed in the analyses. This study recommends that non-farm income generating activities should be encouraged among rural households as this would raise their consumption expenditures and hence, improve welfare and living standards among them.

     

自然灾害及政府救助对农户收入与消费的影响:来自汶川大地震的经验

本文基于独特的2007年和2009年四川省农村家庭微观调查数据,分析汶川大地震对农户家庭收入和消费的影响。我们发现地震造成农户收入下降,但人力资本和非农务工对于缓解地震对收入的负向冲击具有显著作用。政府发放的生活补助款项起到对于收入下降的弥补作用,也使得农户的消费水平在震后保持较快增长。然而,政府提供的住房重建补贴和贷款却不足以负担农户的建房成本。     

The Effect of Nominal Demand Shocks on Manufacturing Output: Evidence from Disaggregated Australian Data*

The menu costs model predicts that during times of rapid inflation firms are less likely to vary output in response to changes in nominal aggregate demand. This paper tests the proposition using a disaggregated sample of Australian three-digit ASIC manufacturing industries. The results show that a significant number of Australian industries exhibit behaviour that is consistent with this prediction. In addition, the results show that the variability of inflation and changes to the import penetration ratio also influence the response of output to nominal demand changes.     

Inflation Targeting and Regional Inflation Persistence: Evidence from Korea

The adoption of a credible monetary policy regime such as inflation targeting is known to reduce the persistence of inflation fluctuations. This conclusion, however, is typically derived from aggregate inflation or sectoral inflation rates, not from regional inflation data. This paper studies the regional dimension of inflation targeting; that is, the consequences of inflation targeting for regional inflation persistence. Based on data for Korean cities and provinces it is shown that the adoption of inflation targeting leads: (i) to a fall in inflation persistence at the regional level; and (ii) to a reduction in the cross‐regional heterogeneity in inflation persistence. A factor model lends further support to the role of the common component, and, hence, monetary policy, for regional inflation persistence.     

How Inequality Affects Trust in Institutions: Evidence from Indonesia

Trust is an important ingredient to improve economic performance and people's welfare by alleviating market failures caused by imperfect information, costly enforcement, or coordination failures. Using the World Values Survey 2018, we estimate the impact of village and district levels inequality on trust in institutions in Indonesia. We find that higher village level inequality has a negative effect only on trust in strangers, while higher district level inequality reduces trust in television, the press, the central government, the courts, and the police. The implication points to the importance of keeping inequality at the aggregate level in check to maintain people's trust in social, political and state institutions.     

Relative Income and Indebtedness: Evidence from Panel Data

We examine patterns of indebtedness in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, focusing on the period surrounding the housing bubble and its aftermath (i.e., 1999–2009). Leverage increased across households, but most quickly among lower income households during this period. We find additionally that leverage grew faster for households with lower relative income compared to other households in similar demographic groups or within a state controlling for own income. Together, these findings provide evidence for the thesis that the rising indebtedness of households in the U.S. is related to high levels of inequality, and that “Veblen effects,” whereby relative income matters for individual well‐being and decisions, may contribute to rising household indebtedness.     

Trade and Rural-Urban Income Inequality: Evidence from China

Using the provincial panel data from 1978 to 2007, this paper makes an empirical analysis of the relationship between international trade and rural-urban income inequality in China. The results show that international trade has a fundamental impact on rural-urban income inequality. For the whole country, the development of international trade from 1978 to 2007 enlarged the rural-urban income gap. During the three different periods (defined in section 3.3), the impact was also noticeable in terms of extent, direction and significance respectively at the national and regional levels. During the three periods, the relationship has an inverted “U” shape for China as a whole, central China and western China, but for eastern China the relationship has a “U” shape. At the same time, exports and imports have different influences on the rural-urban income gap in China, the influences were also different across regions; and the imports has had a more significant influence on these regions than exports has had.     

Energy Price Shocks and Financial Market Integration: Evidence from New Keynesian Model

International Advances in Economic Research - The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of oil price shocks on economic activity. A dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model was applied...     

The Changing Distribution of Income: Evidence and Explanations

This article is concerned with the economics of the distribution of income, emphasizing aspects which have been missing from the recent literature. It begins with factor shares and the rise in real interest rates. These are important in their own right and in relation to the determination of wage differentials. The paper questions the conventional wisdom which locates rising inequality and unemployment solely in a shift in demand away from unskilled workers. This explanation is too partial in its approach, is hard to reconcile with the empirical evidence, and ignores labour market institutions and the role of social norms. In seeking to explain the experience of different countries, we need to look not just at wages but also at the capital market, and should not be limited to a simple competitive supply-and-demand story.     

Elasticity of Taxable Income: Evidence from Changes in Municipal Income Tax Rates in Finland

The elasticity of taxable income (ETI) is a key parameter in income tax analysis, in terms of both efficiency and tax revenue. In this paper, I use Finnish data to analyze the ETI. I use changes in flat municipal income tax rates as an instrument for overall changes in marginal tax rates. This instrument is not a function of individual income, and thus the ETI estimates are less susceptible to bias caused by differential trends across the income distribution. In general, instruments used in previous studies do not have this feature. My preferred estimate for the average ETI is 0.21.     

Income Inequality and Economic Growth: Evidence from American Data

While most cross-country studies find a negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth, studies that use panel data suggest the presence of a positive relationship between inequality and growth. This paper uses a cross-state panel for the United States to assess the relationship between inequality and growth. Using both standard fixed effects and GMM estimations, this paper does not find evidence of a positive relationship between inequality and growth but finds some evidence in support of a negative relationship between inequality and growth. The paper, however, shows that the relationship between inequality and growth is not robust and that small differences in the method used to measure inequality can result in large differences in the estimated relationship between inequality and growth.     

Monetary Shocks and Real Exchange Rate Hysteresis: Evidence from the G-7 Countries

Long-run monetary neutrality specifies that nominal disturbances do not affect long-run real exchange rates. However, the "over depreciation" of the US dollar in the late 1980s, after its strong appreciation earlier in the decade, suggested to a number of observers that nominal disturbances alter long-run real exchange rates; that is, money supply shocks entail real exchange rate hysteresis. Using data from the G-7 countries and the post-1973 float, the paper measures the long-run effects of relative money supply disturbances on real US dollar exchange rates. Little evidence of hysteretic monetary policy effects is found.