摘要:

Two aspects of the relationship between family unit income and the age of the head of the family unit are examined in this exploratory paper. First, in connection with the recent discussion in the U.S. about the “fair” level of income of the aged population, the economic well‐being of various age of head groups is examined for the U.S., Canada, Norway, and Israel. Problems inherent in comparing income distributions across countries are described briefly, and the sensitivity of the estimates to definitional differences is discussed. Relative incomes of the different age groups are then compared within and between countries. Relative mean incomes, relative median incomes, relative mean incomes adjusted for size of unit in alternative ways, distributions of age groups among income quintiles, and relative income shares within age groups are compared. The focus is on aged units. It is found that, using these crude measures, aged units in the U.S. are roughly as well off relative to the other age groups as aged groups in the other countries examined. In the second section of the paper, a U.S. microdata file is reweighted to be consistent with the distributions by age of head of Norway and Canada. Relative income shares of quintiles are computed before and after reweighting and compared with the shares for Norway and Canada. The reweighting to Norway's age distribution increased differences in relative income shares between the two countries; the reweighting to Canada's age distribution slightly decreased differ

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1985.tb00502.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In the Netherlands the Central Bureau of Statistics (C.B.S.) carried out two experimental investigations into the possibility of observing the actual value of the capital stock by means of enquiries at enterprises.This article reports on the investigation into the cigar‐industry. The intention is to carry out enquiries in one branch of industry after another. In due course (for instance after 10 years) it will again be the turn of the first branch of industry and so on. There are also branches of industry which have a fair amount of information regarding capital assets available at their disposal, so that enquiries are not necessary. In the long run the method described will supply statistical data on the value of the capital stock for all branches of industry together.The gross actual value at current and constant prices is calculated for the cigar‐industry, broken down by type and vintage. The enquiry was carried out in two steps. Questionnaires were not sent to the enterprises but they were visited in order that C.B.S. staff could derive the data required from the accounts available. Within the C.B.S. this information was processed, C.B.S. staff making estimates for lacking data. It may be concluded that this method of enquiry for the capital stock is difficult but useful. The results of the enquiry are comparable throughout, the valuation having been carried out in the same way for all enterprises and care having been taken that in each enterprise all means of production were asked for.In the future this new technique of enquiry will provide good detailed information on the capital stock in the Netherla

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1985.tb00503.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A fundamental point of discussion in poverty research is whether poverty is an absolute or a relative concept. If poverty is seen to be a situation of absolute deprivation, a poverty line will usually be defined to be independent of the general style of living in society. If poverty is considered to be a situation of relative deprivation, a poverty line will be defined in relation to the general style of living in society. The choice for one of these two approaches has important consequences for social policy, as absolute poverty may be reduced by economic growth, while relative poverty will only decrease when income inequality decreases. This paper suggests a poverty line definition that is nota priorimeant to be either absolute or relative, but depends on the perception of poverty in society. If the poverty line is higher in countries with higher median income (as an indicator of “general style of living”) the poverty line is said to be relative; if the poverty line does not vary with median income, it is said to be absolute. The poverty line definition suggested appears to be a generalization of almost all well‐known poverty line definitions. Poverty lines thus defined are estimated for eight European countries on the basis of a 1979 survey. The resulting lines appear to have an elasticity with respect to median income of 0.51, and hence can be said to be halfway on the scale between absolute and rel

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1985.tb00504.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper is concerned with the treatment of commodity and activity balances in a national accounts context. It makes use of a general method for reducing the size of a social accounting matrix (SAM) by apportioning the elements of one or more accounts to the rest. The national accounts are looked at in terms of their usefulness for policy analysis, not least analysis of the impact of price changes. The SNA convention of separately distinguishing activities and commodities is endorsed. However, in contrast to the SNA, it is argued that for analytic purposes commodity transactions should be recorded at market prices, with a separate account for each of the markets for a given commodity in which a distinct price prevails. The SNA SAM is shown to be a reduced form of the SAM resulting from this recommended treatment of commodity transactions, while a further round of reductions (apportionments) yields SAMs which are familiar from input‐output analysis, in which activities and commodities are not separately distinguished. It is argued that no special effort would be required to produce SAMs in which commodity balances are recorded at market prices as recommended here (the necessary data are also required to produce the conventional SNA tableaux), and that all reduced form versions of such SAMs, including the SNA, are inferior as a basis for the analysis of price effects on the structure of productio

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1985.tb00505.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Hungary has a relatively long tradition with the “Total Consumption of the Population” (TCP); this category has been regularly compiled and published in Hungarian statistics since the early sixties. The article summarises the experiences with this concept and discusses a number of open questions both of national and international interest.One of these questions relates to the treatment of subsidies. On one hand it can be argued that subsidised prices are intermediate cases between the full price and free of charge cases and therefore the subsidy should be included in TCP; on the other hand, however, subsidies can also be interpreted as negative indirect taxes and therefore there is no reason for their inclusion. The article discusses both the arguments for and against the inclusion of subsidies in TCP.Another issue is the problem of valuing consumption from own agricultural production, where the existing international recommendations—valuation at producer prices—may be questioned.There are other parts of non‐marketed consumption valuation of which causes several serious problems. In Hungary a special problem appears with regard to the services of owner‐occupied dwellings. In the case of valuation of services provided by producers of government there are unsolved questions, too, where the formal following of the international recommendations does not give a fully acceptable solution.The authors agree with those who think that it is necessary to make a distinction between consumption and consumption expenditure and to include the fringe benefits provided by enterpr

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1985.tb00506.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The paper focuses on hitherto neglected fields of trends in the total consumption of the population in the Asian and Pacific countries and pays special attention to situations in India. In doing so it presents a comparative picture on the basis of four variants of the concepts as delineated in the Technical Report prepared by the United Nations Statistical Office. The proportion of government services in the total consumption of the population in the countries depended on socio‐political arrangements and policy considerations. Over the years these proportions either increased or remained constant or declined as the situation developed. In the Indian context the paper deals in detail with the magnitude and proportions of each type of government service over the period 1960‐79. Recognizing that it is the access to and not provision of the services which should rightly be considered, the Indian National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) during July 1980—June 1981 collected country‐wide data from households on the benefit they received from public services in the field of education, health and public distribution of essential commodities. The data from the survey in conjunction with further work proposed by the NSSO should help in the preparation of quantitative estimates of benefit received from these services by various socio‐economic groups in rural and urban areas. The paper touches upon the factors affecting personal consumption expenditure. It provides broad direction for future work on th

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1985.tb00507.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0034-6586    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4991.1985.tb00508.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY