| 研究実績の概要 |
Using data from the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditures, I compared child poverty rates in Japan by income and consumption, and found that consumption always indicated lower rates of child poverty.
To explain the difference, I considered three explanations: (1) under-reporting of incomes (which would exaggerate reported poverty by income), (2) over-reporting of consumption (which would reduce reported poverty by consumption), and (3) consumption smoothing in response to negative income shocks (which would inflate poverty, measured by current income). Overall, I found the income under-reporting was a primary factor of lower rates of consumption-based poverty.
I also compered income and consumption in their ability to identify households with lower material well-being, using three groups of well-being indicators: (a) inability by households to provide major amenities for comfortable living (such as air-conditioners, computers and the like), (b) lower expenditures on child education, and (c) reduced chance to have a child studying in university. In about one-half of these well-being indicators I found significant differences between income and consumption, with consumption nearly always superior to income in identifying materially disadvantaged households with children.
Finally, using a different dataset, I estimated the effect of child poverty on life events in adulthood (educational attainment, adult poverty, marriage, evaluation of health and happiness), and found that child poverty in Japan accounted for a substantial risk of adverse events in adult life.
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