scholarly journals Inequalities in the Impact of the Carbon Tax in Japan

Author(s):  
Nozomu Inoue ◽  
Shigeru Matsumoto ◽  
Minoru Morita

Abstract Although Japan’s current carbon tax rate is much lower than the rates applied in European countries, the Japanese government may increase the tax rate in the near future, in order to strengthen measures to combat global warming. Since a country’s carbon-pricing policy does not distort its economy, it is considered to be an efficient policy measure. However, the burden of carbon pricing varies across regions and across households. Since low-income households generally allocate a larger proportion of their disposable income to energy costs than high-income households, the burden of carbon taxes on low-income households tends to be higher than for high-income households. In addition, households in cold regions spend more money for space heating, and those in rural areas spend more money for gasoline. Unless the government objectively analyzes the impact of carbon pricing and proposes convincing countermeasures to deal with these unequal impacts, the government is unlikely to obtain public support for a carbon tax increase. In this study, we analyze microlevel data from the Japanese National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (NSFE) collected from 1989 to 2014, and examine how past energy price changes affected the welfare of different types of households. We then propose countermeasures to address the problems arising from the regressive nature of taxing energy use.

Author(s):  
LI Xuehui ◽  
LI Zhi ◽  
WANG Zhengxin

Based on the micro-data from the 2013 Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) Survey, the authors use a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) model to simulate and measure the impacts on the welfare of urban and rural households with different incomes after a carbon tax at 50[Formula: see text]RMB/ton was levied in China. The results show that the collection of carbon tax will increase households’ consumer spending to varying degrees. In urban areas, the carbon tax exerts the greatest impact on low-income households, followed by high-income households; while in rural areas, it has the most significant effects on high-income households and the least on low-income households. On the whole, carbon tax’s impact on urban households is greater than that on rural households. To a certain extent, it can help the household income inequality change for the better and narrow the urban–rural income gap. Since the carbon tax does not act on the distribution of Chinese household income in a simply regressive or progressive way, the authors believe that China should implement supporting policies such as tax subsidies or tax refund as supplements to carbon taxation in an effort to establish a mechanism for cyclic utilization of carbon tax revenue.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 250-250
Author(s):  
Eleni Spyreli ◽  
Michelle McKinley ◽  
Jayne Woodside ◽  
Colette Kelly

Abstract Objectives The first lockdown enforced in the United Kingdom to limit the spread of COVID-19 had serious financial consequences for some lower-income households, which were already at risk of suboptimal food choices. Particularly in Northern Ireland, where 10% of the population live in food insecure households, the pandemic has potentially further exacerbated the nutritional challenges experienced by low-income families. This paper aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on food-related decisions as experienced by economically disadvantaged families in Northern Ireland, UK. Methods A qualitative study collected data through online individual interviews. Participation was open to parents of children 2–17 years old who self-identified as living on a tight budget in urban and rural areas of Northern Ireland. A sampling matrix enabled equal representation of single- and two-parent households, as well as younger (<12 y) and older children (>12 y). Photovoice and participatory mapping techniques were employed to capture participant data. A thematic approach was utilised for data analysis. Results A total of 12 interviews were conducted. Five distinct themes were found, reflecting families’ food-related decisions that were affected by the COVID-19 lockdown: 1) food planning; 2) food purchasing; 3) meal preparation; 4) eating and feeding behaviours and 5) eating food prepared outside the house. Changes included an increase in home food preparation, but also in unhealthy snacking. Fear of being exposed to carriers of the virus led to infrequent food shopping and greater reliance on supermarket home deliveries. Long waiting times in-between food shops encouraged food planning but were also a barrier to providing daily fresh foods including fruit and vegetables to their families. Financial constraints were exacerbated during lockdown and led to a search for new ways to budget when food shopping. Food donations from the community and the government were important to maintain food security, particularly in single-parent families. Conclusions This study highlights that the COVID-19 lockdown influenced a broad range of dietary decisions of economically disadvantaged families and offers an insight into the nutritional challenges they experienced. Funding Sources The work was completed with financial support from internal funds of Queens University Belfast.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0258885
Author(s):  
Emily Kroshus ◽  
Pingping Qu ◽  
Sara Chrisman ◽  
Stanley Herring ◽  
Frederick Rivara

Objectives Describe what costs and benefits parents across the socioeconomic spectrum weight most heavily when making decisions about sport participation for their children. Method Cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative online panel of parents of children between the ages of 5 and 18 (n = 1025, 52% response rate). Parents rated the importance of a series of potential costs and benefits of youth sport and these responses were compared across tertiles of per capita family income. We first examined the association between family income tertiles and cost and benefit variables. Model-based cluster analysis was then used to identity homogeneous groups of responses to costs and benefits. Results In all income tertiles, the top two benefits of sport were the same: having fun and being physically active. Sport as a means of keeping children out of trouble was very important for 64% of low-income parents as compared to 40% of high-income parents. Obtaining a college athletic scholarship was very important for 26% of low-income parents, as compared to 8% of high-income parents. Relative rankings of potential costs were similar by income tertile, with risk of concussion and other injury and the impact of sport on schoolwork prioritized across tertiles. Conclusions Parents prioritized fun and fitness in sport, and were concerned about injury and the impact of sport on academics. Lower income parents were the most likely to view keeping their child out of trouble, and the potential for a college athletics scholarship, as benefits of sport. Efforts to support parental decision making should be grounded in an understanding that family preferences are contextually constrained. While all parents should be appropriately informed about the potential costs and benefits they are weighting in their sports-related decision making, such family-focused efforts should be balanced with the recognition that structural change is needed to address income-related concerns about sport participation.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Aye Simon ◽  
Isaac Khambule

PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced declining economic prospects and accompanying economic shocks present socioeconomic vulnerabilities for developing economies at the tranches of poverty, unemployment and minimal social security. South Africa is one of the countries that have the most precarious societies in developing nations due to the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. As such, this paper investigates the impact of the pandemic on South African livelihoods.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses secondary data obtained from the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) Wave 1 dataset to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on South African livelihoods.FindingsThe findings reveal that COVID-19 amplified the country's poor and vulnerable population's socioeconomic conditions because of the stringent Level 5 lockdown regulations that barred low-income households from making a livelihood. It further revealed that low-income households, who are the least educated, Black African, female and marginalized, were disproportionally socioeconomically affected by losing the main household income.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited in that it used secondary quantitative data that relied on a telephonic survey during the COVID-19 lockdown period.Practical implicationsThis study offers a policy suggestion that increasing social grants during the pandemic will not have any significant impact on the livelihoods of many South Africans unless distributional inequalities are reduced.Social implicationsThe government needs to develop welfarist policies to protect the most vulnerable in society to limit the socioeconomic impact of pandemics and take proactive policy measures to reduce unemployment and income inequalities in the country.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to understanding the precarious nature of low-income households.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 781
Author(s):  
Congjia Huo ◽  
Lingming Chen

With the continued development of the economy, the income gap among Chinese rural households continues to widen. The land system plays a decisive role in developing “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” and land circulation is a factor in the increase in income inequality among farm households. Based on the 2013 China Household Income Project (CHIP), this article used the re-centered influence function (RIF) regression method to empirically test the impact of rural land circulation on the income gap of rural households in China in three regions: the central, eastern and western regions. The quantile regression tested the impact mechanism of income inequality of rural households from the perspective of labor mobility and land circulation. The empirical results showed that land circulation increases the income inequality of rural households. The theoretical mechanism test proved that the dynamic relationship between land circulation and labor mobility increases rural household income. However, this increase has a greater effect on rural households with a high income and a small effect on rural households with a low income, resulting in a further widening of the income gap. Therefore, while increasing the income of rural households through land circulation, the government should also consider income equity. Finally, this article puts forward the policies and opinions on land reform and provides a brief discussion on the future direction of development.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousef Mohammadzadeh ◽  
Jafar Yahyavi Dizaj ◽  
Ali Mohammad Mosadeghrad ◽  
Ali Kazemi ◽  
Hasan Yusefzadeh

Abstract Background: Iran government launched the targeted subsidy plan (TSP) in December 2011 to reduce inequality and poverty. In addition, Health Transformation Plan (HTP) was implemented in ministry of health to reduce people out of pocket payment. This study aimed to examine the impact of these two government subsidy programs on equity in health financing. Method: In this longitudinal study, data on 413,201 households were collected using household surveys during 11 years (2007-2017). The Fairness in Financial Contribution (FFCI) index and Catastrophic Health Expenditures (CHE) index were calculated.Also Logistic regression model was performed by the applied software of Stata V.14 to examine the effects of TSP and HTP policies and other socioeconomic characteristics of households on their exposure to CHE.Results: The FFC index was 0.829 and 0.830 respectively in 2007 and 2017. The trend analysis did not show significant changes in FFC index between 2007 and 2017. TSP and HTP implementation die not reduce households’ exposure to CHE significantly. Crowded households with more elder people, belonging to low income deciles, without houses, living in rural areas and deprived provinces, are more likely to be at risk of CHE. Health insurance coverage did not protect households from CHE. High educated and employed households were exposed to less CHE.Conclusion: The government subsidy programs have not been effective in improving FFC and reducing CHE indices. None of them has been able to realize the goal of the 6th National Development Plan of reducing CHE to 1%. The government should devise support packages for target household (households with more elderly people, lower incomes, without private house, crowded, rural and inhabited in deprived provinces), so they can protect households against CHE. Modifying and improving the quality of insurance coverage is strongly recommended due to its inefficiency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 964-990
Author(s):  
N.I. Kulikov ◽  
V.L. Parkhomenko ◽  
Akun Anna Stefani Rozi Mobio

Subject. We assess the impact of tight financial and monetary policy of the government of the Russian Federation and the Bank of Russia on the level of household income and poverty reduction in Russia. Objectives. The purpose of the study is to analyze the results of financial and monetary policy in Russia and determine why the situation with household income and poverty has not changed for the recent six years, and the GDP growth rate in Russia is significantly lagging behind the global average. Methods. The study employs methods of analysis of scientific and information base, and synthesis of obtained data. The methodology and theoretical framework draw upon works of domestic and foreign scientists on economic and financial support to economy and population’s income. Results. We offer measures for liberalization of the financial and monetary policy of the government and the Central Bank to ensure changes in the structure of the Russian economy. The proposed alternative economic and financial policy of the State will enable the growth of real incomes of the population, poverty reduction by half by 2024, and annual GDP growth up to 6 per cent. Conclusions. It is crucial to change budget priorities, increase the salaries of public employees, introduce a progressive tax rate for individuals; to reduce the key rate to the value of annual inflation and limit the bank margin. The country needs a phased program to increase the population's income, which will ensure consumer demand.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Towaf Totok Irawan

Until now the government and private sector have not been able to address the backlog of 13.5 million housing units for ownership status and 7.6 million units for residential status. The high price of land has led to the high price of the house so that low-income communities (MBR) is not able to reach out to make a home purchase. In addition to the high price of land, tax factors also contribute to the high price of the house. The government plans to issue a policy for the provision of tax incentives, ie abolish VAT on home-forming material transaction. This policy is expected to house prices become cheaper, so the demand for housing increases, and encourage the relevant sectors to intensify its role in the construction of houses. It is expected to replace the lost tax potential and increase incomes. Analysis of the impact of tax incentives housing to potential state revenue and an increase in people's income, especially in Papua province is using the table IO because in addition to looking at the role each sector can also see the impact on taxes (income tax 21 Pph 25 Pph, VAT), and incomes (wage). Although in the short-term impact is still small, but very rewarding in the long run. Keywords: Backlog, Gross Input, Primary Input, Intermediate Input


Author(s):  
Kalaichelvi Sivaraman ◽  
Rengasamy Stalin

This research paper is the part of Research Project entitled “Impact of Elected Women Representatives in the Life and Livelihood of the Women in Rural Areas: With Special Reference to Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu” funded by University of Madras under UGC-UPE Scheme.The 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India were made by the government to strengthen the position of women and to create a local-level legal foundation for direct democracy for women in both rural and urban areas. The representation for women in local bodies through reservation policies amendment in Constitution of India has stimulated the political participation of women in rural areas. However, when it’s comes to the argument of whether the women reservation in Panchayati Raj helps or benefits to the life and livelihood development of women as a group? The answer is hypothetical because the studies related to the impact of women representatives of Panchayati Raj in the life and livelihood development of women was very less. Therefore, to fill the gap in existing literature, the present study was conducted among the rural women of Tiruvannamalai district to assess the impact of elected women representatives in the physical and financial and business development of the women in rural areas. The findings revealed that during the last five years because of the women representation in their village Panjayati Raj, the Physical Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (55.8%) and Highly (23.4%) and the Financial and Business Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (60.4%) and Highly (18.7%).


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