Equivalence Scales and Subjective Data in Switzerland

Jean-Marc Falter

Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), 2006, vol. 142, issue II, 263-284

Abstract: The estimation of equivalence scales is an important aspect of any poverty or inequality analysis. Most of the research and policy recommendations rely on so called expert scales. Some of them are used in many countries, like the OECD scale. In Switzerland, recommendations of the CSIAS, the main body in charge of social norms, are followed by academics as well as practitioners. Yet, the use of such equivalence scales should be validated by statistical results on the cost of children. To the author knowledge, all avalaible studies on equivalence scales in Switzerland are based on demand behavior, a method with its own merits and shortcomings. We claim that subjective estimators may overcome the difficulties implied by traditional estimation of equivalence scales. Our results seem to indicate that the expert scales are too steep. However, our results are driven by the choice of the research instrument.

Keywords: Equivalence scales; poverty analysis; subjective data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 I32 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sjes.ch/papers/2006-II-4.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ses:arsjes:2006-ii-4

Access Statistics for this article

Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES) is currently edited by Marius Brülhart

More articles in Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES) from Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kurt Schmidheiny ().