Gift giving results in energy-poverty suffering: A new explanation of the nonincome poor traps in hidden energy poverty in China

Abstract

Responding to energy poverty elimination has provided a dominant lens for avoiding new returns to income poverty, particularly in China. Due to the significance of the energy poverty problem, a growing body of literature has extensively explored its definitions, measurements and causes. However, traditional criteria lack a nuanced understanding of the complexity of China's current energy poverty. Meanwhile, there is growing interest in how social norms contribute to energy poverty traps or escapes. This article establishes a composite index by taking advantage of climate zones (considering both heating and cooling requirements), dwelling conditions and energy expenditures, which attempts to heterogeneously identify households with underconsumption of energy behaviour as hidden energy poverty (hEP). Importantly, it further examines gift giving in relation to hEP. Employing panel data from China, this article discovers that 50.75% of households experience hEP. By robustly using a range of hEP metrics, this article reveals that gift giving increased the incidence of hEP. Particularly, compared with the income-poor group, the results suggest that the nonincome poor were associated with a larger economic burden from gift-giving expenses, which crowded out energy expenditures and eventually compressed energy needs. The focus of this article sheds light on a state-of-the-art outlook of capturing the multifaceted nature of energy poverty and promoting policy-makers to facilitate appropriate social norms instead of simplistically targeting the poor in energy poverty eradication efforts.