EQUIVALENCE VERSUS INDIFFERENCE SCALES

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chiappori, Pierre-Andre
• 署名单位: Columbia University
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12371
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 523-545
• 关键词: welfare comparisons; identification

摘要

Comparing income levels across families with different composition is a central issue for most welfare indicators and policies. Currently, the dominant method relies on income-based equivalence scales, which raise a host of theoretical, empirical and normative difficulties. However, a new approach, based on the notion of indifference scales, avoids most of these problems, while leading to empirically tractable estimation methods. I submit that time has come to abandon the traditional view in favour of the new concept.