On the income dependence of equivalence scales

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Koulovatianos, C; Schröder, C; Schmidt, U
• 署名单位: University of Vienna; University of Kiel; Leibniz University Hannover
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2004.09.005
• 发表日期: 2005
• 页码: 967-996
• 关键词: equivalence scales; survey method; independence of base

摘要

Household consumption exhibits economies of scale as the number of household members increases. We collect survey data from two countries, Germany and France, in order to obtain direct subjective estimates of household consumption economies of scale, and, in particular, to examine an additional dimension: whether household consumption economies of scale change as living standards go up. Our data from both countries indicate strongly that household economies of scale increase as the living standard goes up. We discuss the robustness of our survey method and compare our results to these of alternative estimation methods in the literature. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.