WHY ARE HOUSEHOLDS THAT REPORT THE LOWEST INCOMES SO WELL-OFF?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brewer, Mike; Etheridge, Ben; O'Dea, Cormac
• 署名单位: University of Essex; University of Essex; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12334
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: F24-F49
• 关键词: life-cycle; consumption; expenditure; POOR; poverty; viewpoint

摘要

We document that households in the UK with extremely low measured income tend to spend much more than those with merely moderately low income. This phenomenon is evident throughout three decades worth of microdata and across different employment states, levels of education and marital statuses. Of the likely explanations, we provide several arguments that discount over-reporting of expenditure and argue that under-reporting of income plays the major role. In particular, by using a dynamic model of consumption and saving, and paying special attention to poverty dynamics, we show that consumption smoothing cannot explain all the apparent dissaving.