The Influence of Demographics and Household-Specific Price Indices on Consumption-Based Inequality and Welfare: A Comparison of Spain and the United States

Abstract

Previous research suggests that income inequality is lower in Spain than in the U.S. This paper studies whether this ranking remains the same when household consumption expenditures are used as a proxy for household welfare. Both inequality and social welfare, as components of economic well-being, are examined. Total household expenditures from each country 's 1990-91 consumer expenditure survey are used as the basis for the analysis. When consumption expenditures are substituted for income as the measure of economic well-being, the ranking of Spain and the U.S. varies as both household size and the equivalence scale adjustment change. When focusing on household size alone, inequality and welfare comparisons are drastically different for smaller and larger households. The income inequality ranking can only be maintained for expenditure distributions when economies of scale are assumed to be small or non-existent. However, welfare is always higher in the U.S. than in Spain. It is concluded that household demographic characteristics, as well as equivalence scale adjustments, can be very important in international comparisons. With regard to householdspecific relative price effects, inflation during the 1980s in both countries has been essentially neutral from a distributional point of view, so that all results are robust to the choice of time period.2

Health Insurance Deductibles and Health Care–Seeking Behaviors in a Consumer-Driven Health Care System With Universal Coverage

“…Household income was adjusted to household size using an equivalence scales method: income/(household size) 0.5 . 8 Tertiles of household income were used when analyses were stratified by this variable. Known comorbidities were self-reported and included a history of myocardial infarction, angina, stroke, or breast cancer.…”

Screening Status as a Determinant of Choice of Colorectal Cancer Screening Method: A Population-Based Informed Survey

“…Nationality was defined as either Swiss or not Swiss, and educational attainment was divided into 3 categories as in Huissman et al [21]: (1) no end of school certification (Maturité) or no professional apprenticeship (primary); (2) obtaining “Maturité” or professional apprenticeship (secondary); and (3) university degree (tertiary). Monthly household income was self-reported in CHF (<2,999, 3,000–4,999, 5,000–6,999, 7,000–9,499, 9,500–13,000, or >13,000) in the questionnaire and adjusted for household size using the ratio: income/(household size) 0.5 [22]. In 2016, 1 CHF corresponded to approximately 1 USD.…”

Agency, communion, and pubertal status: Separating between‐ and within‐person associations to examine social goals development

“…Parent reports of adjusted household income and parental education at W1 were each standardized and then summed to represent socioeconomic status (SES). Adjusted household income was calculated using the formula: Adjusted household income = Household income/(Household size) N (Garner et al., 2003). N is a number between 0 and 1, known as an equivalence scale that accounts for the fact that expenditures do not necessarily double when having two versus one child.…”