Household Budget Research Articles

Exploring how social housing residents interact with building openings in a hot-humid climate

In a hot-humid climate, natural ventilation is the most recommended strategy for obtaining thermal comfort indoors. The residents' behavior in opening windows and doors to promote natural ventilation is crucial for predicting thermal comfort, especially for low-income housing where energy costs can exceed household budgets. This study identifies residents’ behavior in social housing in northeast Brazil (a hot-humid climate), focusing on actions to regulate thermal comfort with natural ventilation. The methodology comprehends field research, surveys, data processing, and analysis. Interviews with 375 individuals across two social housing complexes reveal the significant role of security and cultural factors in window control behavior. The results highlight the considerable role of security and cultural factors in shaping occupant behavior concerning window control. The residents indicated that they are stimulated to open the windows and doors right after they wake up and close them at bedtime or when leaving the house. Occupancy is a significant driving factor, but the sleep period (unconscious state) plays a crucial role in determining the closure of openings, even to housing units with a 2.0 m high wall on the plot land limits and security bars on windows. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex interplay between security, cultural factors, and thermal comfort regulation, proposing valuable insights for design and policy interventions aimed at improving living conditions in similar contexts.

Piloting Home Produce Delivery to Improve Food Security, Budget, and Diet in Families with Children: A Mixed-Methods Study

BackgroundFew children in food insecure (FI) households meet dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetables (“produce”). Barriers include affordability, accessibility, and desirability. Home produce delivery may reduce FI, increase produce consumption, and decrease budget tradeoffs. ObjectiveEvaluate the acceptability and potential impact of delivering produce through home visiting programs on FI, diet, and budget tradeoffs. MethodsIn this prospective pre/post mixed methods study, 51 parents engaged in home visiting programs were enrolled. Participants completed pre- and post-program surveys on FI (18-item Food Security Scale), produce consumption, and budget tradeoffs. Pre- and post-surveys were compared using McNemar’s test and weighted kappas. Interview guides were based on Social Cognitive Theory and a previously published framework. Interviews were conducted in English or Spanish; thematic analysis was completed. ResultsTwenty-nine (56.9%) participants completed both surveys. Most were female (96.3%) and Hispanic (79.3%) (Table 1). Food security improved in the post-period, with more participants reporting high food security (pre: 6.9%, post: 31.0%) and fewer reporting very low food security (pre: 20.7%, post: 6.9%, P<0.01) (Table 2). Budgetary tradeoffs decreased in the post-program period (pre: 71.4%, post: 48.1%, P = 0.03). Fifteen participants were interviewed. Themes included 1) saved money, 2) increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and 3) interest in future participation. ConclusionThis pilot study found that an intervention for delivery of produce through home visiting programs was acceptable to participants and resulted in potential improvements in FI and household budgets. This supports future studies to further explore the impact of this novel intervention.

Assessing the equity and coverage policy sensitivity of financial protection indicators in Europe

Progress towards universal health coverage is monitored by the incidence of catastrophic spending. Two catastrophic spending indicators are commonly used in Europe: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 3.8.2 and the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) indicator. The use of different indicators can cause confusion, especially if they produce contradictory results and policy implications. We use harmonised household budget survey data from 27 European Union countries covering 505,217 households and estimate the risk of catastrophic spending, conditional on household characteristics and the design of medicines co-payments. We calculate the predicted probability of catastrophic spending for particular households, which we call LISAs, under combinations of medicines co-payment policies and compare predictions across the two indicators. Using the WHO/Europe indicator, any combination of two or more protective policies (i.e. low fixed co-payments instead of percentage co-payments, exemptions for low-income households and income-related caps on co-payments) is associated with a statistically significant lower risk of catastrophic spending. Using the SDG indicator, confidence intervals for every combination of protective policies overlap with those for no protective policies. Although out-of-pocket medicines spending is a strong predictor of catastrophic spending using both indicators, the WHO/Europe indicator is more sensitive to medicines co-payment policies than the SDG indicator, making it a better indicator to monitor health system equity and progress towards UHC in Europe.

Persistency of catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditures: Measurement with evidence from three African countries - Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda

Catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure (CHE) remain high in Sub-Saharan Africa and may not conform to the sporadic random pattern of acute illnesses that shapes insurance arrangements intended to avoid the risk of financial loss. The persistency of CHE remains a largely unexplored issue due to the lack of relevant methods and scarcity of panel data. This paper addresses the first shortcoming by presenting three different approaches to incorporating the timeframes into the analysis, considering dynamics between two periods, average over time and the recurrence of CHE incidence. Through the application of the complementary approaches, we identify (i) those at risk of persistent CHE in the short-term; (ii) those facing transient versus persistent CHE in the long-term; and (iii) those facing multiple CHE spells. The methods are applied to different definitions of CHE using panel data from three sub-Saharan countries: Malawi (3 waves: 2010, 2013, and 2016) with 4983 observations; Tanzania (3 waves: 2008, 2010, and 2012) with 8715 observations; and Uganda (5 waves: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015) with 6475 observations. All datasets are balanced panels. Additionally, we employ empirical strategies to identify the underlying factors contributing to these persistent and relatively high OOP. Across the three countries, we find that at least 27% of the people facing CHE in one period, because they spent more than 5% of their household budget on health out-of-pocket, will face it again in the next period. The lower-bound risk for those spending more than 10% of their household budget is 9% and for those spending more than 25% of their household capacity to pay is 13%. Between 11% and 45% of the population incurred CHE at least twice during the observation period when using the 5% budget definition of CHE. The double recurrence rate ranges between 7% and 13% when using the 25% capacity-to-pay definition and between 3% and 20% when using the 10% budgetshare definition. Between 22% and 32% of the population experienced chronic CHE at the 5% of the budgetshare definition (6%–10% at the 10% of the budgetshare definition of CHE; 2%–11% at 25% of capacity-to-pay). Our panel regression analysis consistently highlights the susceptibility of certain groups to face persistence CHE, notably those residing in rural areas, individuals with lower levels of education, the elderly, and those who have undergone hospitalizations.

Quantifying energy footprint inequalities across different socio-economic segments in Spain

To achieve the ambitious climate targets set for 2050, it is essential to understand the energy footprints resulting from different lifestyles. This research aims to analyse the variation in direct and embedded energy consumption across different Spanish autonomous communities and socio-economic segments. To do so, we combine the Global Multi-Regional Input-Output methodology (GMRIO) with microdata from Household Budget Surveys (HBS). The findings show that income, household size, and nationality significantly affect the energy footprint of individuals. High-income households have an energy footprint of up to 63.3 MWh·cap−1·yr−1, 75.0% higher than national average. Furthermore, individuals living alone show a 41.4% larger consumption than the national average. In contrast, households with foreign nationalities show an energy footprint of 24.7 MWh·cap−1·yr−1, a 31.8% reduction over national average. On the other hand, differences in gender, age, or municipality size do not play a significant role in energy footprint variations. The energy footprint and the Gross Domestic Product are significantly correlated, as wealthier regions have a TPEF of 17.6% above the national average, while poorer regions show a 31.6% decrease in footprint. Altogether, this work suggests ways to reduce energy consumption in lifestyles, providing specific actions in policy-making.

Distributional Impacts of Tobacco Excise Taxes in Serbia.

Numerous studies worldwide have investigated the impact of tobacco tax increase on household welfare, focusing on concerns regarding potential tobacco taxation regressivity and its effects on the poorest, whereas their scope was limited to the working population. To explore the effects of tax changes on household budgets, accounting for the retired population as well, we employed the modified Extended Cost-Benefit Analysis (ECBA) framework, assuming a 43.6% specific tax increase that fits the EU Tobacco Tax Directive recommendation of minimum EUR 90 excise taxes per 1,000 cigarettes. Our analysis encompassed changes in: 1) tobacco expenditure (accounting for price elasticities by income groups: low-, middle-, and high-income), 2) medical costs linked to smoking-related diseases (utilizing relative risk of morbidity/mortality and smoking-attributable fractions), 3) years of working life (considering the years of working life lost among the working population), and 4) years of pension receipt (accounting for the years of retirement life lost due the premature death). Under an assumed specific excise increase leading to a 22.4% retail tobacco price rise, the net gains in disposable household budgets would be 0.01% for high-income, 1.3% for middle-income, and 2.9% for low-income households. A tax increase would yield a progressive effect on income distribution, benefiting the most economically disadvantaged population thereby contributing to a more equitable income distribution. To effectively reduce tobacco consumption, subsequent smoking-related medical costs, and associated productivity and pension losses, it is recommended that Serbia implement a minimum 43.6% increase in the specific tobacco excise tax.

Estimated reduction in obesity prevalence and costs of a 20% and 30% ad valorem excise tax to sugar-sweetened beverages in Brazil: A modeling study.

The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with obesity, metabolic diseases, and incremental healthcare costs. Given their health consequences, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that countries implement taxes on SSB. Over the last 10 years, obesity prevalence has almost doubled in Brazil, yet, in 2016, the Brazilian government cut the existing federal SSB taxes to their current 4%. Since 2022, a bill to impose a 20% tax on SSB has been under discussion in the Brazilian Senate. To simulate the potential impact of increasing taxes on SSB in Brazil, we aimed to estimate the price-elasticity of SSB and the potential impact of a new 20% or 30% excise SSB tax on consumption, obesity prevalence, and cost savings. Using household purchases data from the Brazilian Household Budget Survey (POF) from 2017/2018, we estimated constant elasticity regressions. We used a log-log specification by income level for all beverage categories: (1) sugar-sweetened beverages; (2) alcoholic beverages; (3) unsweetened beverages; and (4) low-calorie or artificially sweetened beverages. We estimated the adult nationwide baseline intake for each beverage category using 24-h dietary recall data collected in 2017/2018. Taking group one as the taxed beverages, we applied the price and cross-price elasticities to the baseline intake data, we obtained changes in caloric intake. The caloric reduction was introduced into an individual dynamic model to estimate changes in weight and obesity prevalence. No benefits on cost savings were modeled during the first 3 years of intervention to account for the time lag in obesity cases to reduce costs. We multiplied the reduction in obesity cases during 7 years by the obesity costs per capita to predict the costs savings attributable to the sweetened beverage tax. SSB price elasticities were higher among the lowest tertile of income (-1.24) than in the highest income tertile (-1.13), and cross-price elasticities suggest SSB were weakly substituted by milk, water, and 100% fruit juices. We estimated a caloric change of -17.3 kcal/day/person under a 20% excise tax and -25.9 kcal/day/person under a 30% tax. Ten years after implementation, a 20% tax is expected to reduce obesity prevalence by 6.7%; 9.1% for a 30% tax. These reductions translate into a -2.8 million and -3.8 million obesity cases for a 20% and 30% tax, respectively, and a reduction of $US 13.3 billion and $US 17.9 billion in obesity costs over 10 years for a 20% and 30% tax, respectively. Study limitations include using a quantile distribution method to adjust self-reported baseline weight and height, which could be insufficient to correct for reporting bias; also, weight, height, and physical activity were assumed to be steady over time. Adding a 20% to 30% excise tax on top of Brazil's current federal tax could help to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed beverages, empty calories, and body weight while avoiding large health-related costs. Given the recent cuts to SSB taxes in Brazil, a program to revise and implement excise taxes could prove beneficial for the Brazilian population.

Pajak Karbon dan Dilema Pembangunan Ekonomi Indonesia: Pembelajaran dari Negara Lain

Indonesia issued a regulation on carbon tax through article 13 of Law No. 7 on the Harmonization of Tax Regulations (HPP) in 2021 following the number of countries that have implemented carbon pricing mechanisms in facing the challenge of climate change. In addition to the policy formulation process full of pros and cons, the policy was actually postponed until 2015. Learning from the experience of other countries, the implementation of carbon taxes does not always succeed in reducing emissions or household budgets. The facts show that economic development and environmental control often do not occur at the same time. Additional rules, government commitment and cooperation from every relevant stakeholder are needed as well as supervision from the community in the implementation of article 13 of the HPP Law.

Continuation of the reform and opening-up policy in China in the 21st century in the focus of transformation of the mechanism of household budgetary decisions

Subject. The article considers features of the second stage (since 2000) of the reform and opening-up policy implementation in China, specifically, household income, expenditure, and investment decisions. Objectives. The focus is on the analysis of problems relevant to Chinese households, like population aging, rapid pace of digital transformation of the economy, and on the assessment of the impact of China's foreign policy on living standards. Methods. The study draws on methods of statistical analysis. Results. The study shows that measures aimed at changing the way households are registered in urban and rural areas, the higher education reform, large-scale marketization of medical care, commercialization of housing construction, and China's accession to the World Trade Organization have provided Chinese households not only with unprecedented dividends, but also with potential risks and opportunities. The key risk is the accelerated aging of the population, which requires households to spend additional money on elderly relatives. Conclusions. To maximize the impact of the reform and opening-up policies, it is important to focus both on minimizing the risks caused by population ageing and on the prospects for digital transformation, which significantly affect household budget decisions. Based on foreign experience and considering the national conditions, it is necessary to develop a system for improving digital literacy for the entire population.

Absolute Poverty Measurement with Minimum Food Needs: A New Inverse Method for Advanced Economies

Spurred by the need for increased adequacy and international comparability, absolute poverty measures are gaining in policy relevance around the world. This paper proposes a simple and feasible method of calculating absolute poverty thresholds on the basis of households’ minimum food needs in advanced economies. It makes three important contributions. First, it demonstrates that conventional statistical methods used in the developing world deliver either unrealistically low or improbably high poverty estimates in rich countries where household spending on food is modest in relative terms. Second, it proposes a new simulation-based inverse method that focuses on the non-food Engel curve and uses predetermined minimum food bundles not as inputs but as targeted reference points in order to calculate adequate poverty thresholds. Finally, an empirical application of the new method using household budget survey data from Italy shows that resulting poverty estimates are comparable to the official figures of the Italian Statistical Office in terms of both the poverty rate and the poverty profiles. Requiring few and easily procurable resources, the proposed algorithm is well suited to produce robust, consistent and internationally comparable absolute poverty estimates in a large number of developed countries and emerging economies.

Differences in the cost and environmental impact between the current diet in Brazil and healthy and sustainable diets: a modeling study

BackgroundWhile healthy and sustainable diets benefit human and planetary health, their monetary cost has a direct impact on consumer food choices. This study aimed to identify the cost and environmental impact of the current Brazilian diet (CBD) and compare it with healthy and sustainable diets.MethodsData from the Brazilian Household Budget Survey 2017/18 and the Footprints of Foods and Culinary Preparations Consumed in Brazil database were used for a modeling study comparing the cost of healthy and sustainable diets (based on the Brazilian Dietary Guidelines (BDG) diet and the EAT-Lancet diet) versus the CBD. The DIETCOST program generated multiple food baskets for each scenario (Montecarlo simulations). Nutritional quality, cost, and environmental impact measures (carbon footprint (CF) and water footprint (WF)) were estimated for all diets and compared by ANOVA. Simple linear regressions used standardized environmental impacts measures to estimate differentials in costs and environmental impacts among diets scenarios.ResultsWe observed significant differences in costs/1000 kcal. The BDG diet was cheaper (BRL$4.9 (95%IC:4.8;4.9) ≈ USD$1.5) than the CBD (BRL$5.6 (95%IC:5.6;5.7) ≈ USD$1.8) and the EAT-Lancet diet (BRL$6.1 (95%IC:6.0;6.1) ≈ USD$1.9). Ultra-processed foods (UPF) and red meat contributed the most to the CBD cost/1000 kcal, while fruits and vegetables made the lowest contribution to CBD. Red meat, sugary drinks, and UPF were the main contributors to the environmental impacts of the CBD. The environmental impact/1000 kcal of the CBD was nearly double (CF:3.1 kg(95%IC: 3.0;3.1); WF:2,705 L 95%IC:2,671;2,739)) the cost of the BDG diet (CF:1.4 kg (95%IC:1.4;1.4); WF:1,542 L (95%IC:1,524;1,561)) and EAT-Lancet diet (CF:1.1 kg (95%IC:1.0;1.1); WF:1,448 L (95%IC:1,428;1,469)). A one standard deviation increase in standardized CF corresponded to an increase of BRL$0.48 in the cost of the CBD, similar to standardized WF (BRL$0.56). A similar relationship between the environmental impact and the cost of the BDG (CF: BRL$0.20; WF: BRL$0.33) and EAT-Lancet (CF: BRL$0.04; WF: BRL$0.18) was found, but with a less pronounced effect.ConclusionsThe BDG diet was cost-effective, while the EAT-Lancet diet was slightly pricier than the CBD. The CBD presented almost double the CF and WF compared to the BDG and EAT-Lancet diets. The lower cost in each diet was associated with lower environmental impact, particularly for the BDG and EAT-Lancet diets. Multisectoral public policies must be applied to guide individuals and societies towards healthier and more sustainable eating patterns.

Driving A-loan: Automobile debt, neighborhood race, and the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 altered travel patterns in the U.S. Studies have analyzed the effect of the pandemic on travel mode, including working from home, but few have focused on automobile ownership—a relationship with potentially long-term consequences for accessibility, household budgets and debt, and policy efforts to meet climate goals.To understand the association between the pandemic and automobile ownership, we rely on a unique credit panel dataset from Experian and examine three different automobile loan-related outcome measures: annualized growth rate of new automobile loan balances, average new loan size, and the number of new loans. We focus specifically on changes across loans in neighborhoods by race/ethnicity, hypothesizing larger increases in automobile debt in Black and Latino/a neighborhoods, where workers are less likely to be able to telework. The annualized growth rate of new automobile loans increased during the pandemic across all neighborhoods by race/ethnicity, increasing most rapidly in Latino/a neighborhoods. Controlling for other factors, loan size increased similarly across neighborhoods by race/ethnicity. The increase in automobile lending in Latino/a neighborhoods, therefore, likely was explained by a significant uptick in the number of new loans.The growth in automobile lending during the pandemic was potentially prompted by pandemic-induced changes in the need for automobiles and facilitated by an expanded social safety net. As the pandemic and its various forms of public financial assistance recede, the findings underscore the importance of ongoing assistance in enabling automobile ownership or shared access among households with limited means whose livelihoods depend on the access that vehicles provide.

Adopting the fuzzy approach to analyze food poverty in Italy: A study on vulnerable households using household budget survey data

Besides international efforts to address poverty and hunger, there are still many disparities among households, therefore innovative approaches and techniques are required to address the multiple facets of poverty, especially food poverty.Given the complexity in defining this phenomenon, the fuzzy approach based on an expenditure-related metric is adopted as it provides valuable insights into the Italian food poverty situation thus improving the results generally provided using by the classical binary (or crisp) set theory.By considering the equivalised household food expenditure obtained from the 2021 Italian Household Budget Survey data, the fuzzy set approach is used to measure food poverty paying particular attention to vulnerable households at a detailed territorial level. The results show that food poverty is lower in the Northern-Central regions than in Southern Italy and highlight the vulnerability of families with children and single-parent households.

The Implementation of Good Corporate Governance Perspective: A Case Study on BUMDes Samsam

The role of Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) aims to realize village independence in managing their finances in increasing the economy and village income. BUMDes Samsam is one of the community organizations that perform well because it is able to provide remaining business results in accordance with the ratified household budget rules. One thing that must be fulfilled is accountability for village financial management implementation activities. Accountability is often associated with Good Corporate Governance, including the financial activities of BUMDes. This research investigated the characteristics of accountability implemented by BUMDes Samsam's management. The research method used with case studies was proposed by Yin. The research was conducted at BUMDes Samsam on four informants who had direct contact with financial management accountability practices. Qualitative data was collected by observation, interviews, and documentation. The research results show that the accountability of implementation applies the characteristics of participation, transparency, kinship, honesty, loyalty, and integrity. This research can provide theoretical and practical implications that can influence village economic performance through BUMDes becoming independent villages

Crowding-out effect of tobacco consumption in Serbia

BackgroundAlthough smoking prevalence and intensity in Serbia have decreased in recent years, expenditures on tobacco products still represent a significant portion of household budgets. As households have limited resources at...

Impact of tobacco spending on intrahousehold resource allocation in Montenegro

BackgroundThe main goal of this study is to estimate the crowding out impact of tobacco expenditures on the household budget allocation to other mutually exclusive commodity groups in Montenegro.MethodologyThe analysis...

Distributional justice, effectiveness, and costs of current and alternative solar PV incentive schemes in Switzerland

Like many other countries, Switzerland offers various incentives to promote residential solar PV, but not all households have equal access to them. Using a microsimulation approach based on merged data from the Swiss Household Budget Survey and Household Energy Demand Survey, we evaluate the current Swiss incentive scheme in terms of how equally the internal rates of return of PV installations, the amounts of obtainable incentives, and the saving months to accumulate the investment are distributed across households. The current, regionally heterogeneous scheme is then compared with alternative, nationally uniform designs based on the required public spending, effectiveness in promoting profitable and affordable PV, and distributional equality. The current scheme leads to a large disparity in the economic profitability of installations and incentive amounts obtainable across various socio-demographics. Larger, the highest-income, and rural households can obtain more incentives and install more profitable PV systems. Lower-income households must save the longest to install PV. Incentive schemes with a nationally uniform investment grant or a feed-in tariff threshold could offer a good alternative to the current scheme in terms of justice, public spending, and effectiveness. The insights on heterogeneous versus uniform PV incentives and the developed methodology could be transferred elsewhere.

Crowding-out effect of tobacco consumption in Indonesia

BackgroundTobacco consumption is pervasive in Indonesia, with 6 out of 10 households in the country consuming tobacco. Smoking households, on average, divert a significant share (10.7%) of their monthly budget...

Structures of Consumption and Professional Identity: An Analysis of the French Household Budget Survey

As conventional class categories hide too much pertinent information, there is a growing body of work on lifestyles and consumption patterns of more detailed occupational groups that seeks to distinguish the underlying social structures. While research in Bourdieusian class analysis focuses on class practices, limited attention is paid to agents’ strategic interests. Using French household expenditure data, this article explores the structures of consumption, instrumental for professional advancement, within the ‘service class’. The article provides conclusive evidence of maintained distinctions between the identities of business, technical and educational professionals through the expenditure-based structures of consumption. The study illustrates the capacity of Bourdieu’s capital composition principle to reveal the social structures. The article argues that the instrumental, capital-signalling role of strategic investments in the markers of distinction resonates with the principles of Bourdieu’s logic, delineating not only the symbolic but also the social space, with implications for understanding inequality.

Food price trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

The present study aims to analyze the trends in food price in Brazil with emphasis on the period of the Covid-19 pandemic (from March 2020 to March 2022). Data from the Brazilian Household Budget Survey and the National System of Consumer Price Indexes were used as input to create a novel data set containing monthly prices (R$/Kg) for the foods and beverages most consumed in the country between January 2018 and March 2022. All food items were divided according to the Nova food classification system. We estimated the mean price of each food group for each year of study and the entire period. The monthly price of each group was plotted to analyze changes from January 2018 to March 2022. Fractional polynomial models were used to synthesize price changes up to 2025. Results of the present study showed that in Brazil unprocessed or minimally processed foods and processed culinary ingredients were more affordable than processed and ultra-processed foods. However, trend analyses suggested the reversal of the pricing pattern. The anticipated changes in the prices of minimally processed food relative to ultra-processed food, initially forecasted for Brazil, seem to reflect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy. These results are concerning as the increase in the price of healthy foods aggravates food and nutrition insecurity in Brazil. Additionally, this trend encourages the replacement of traditional meals for the consumption of unhealthy foods, increasing a health risk to the population.