The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of taxes on household consumption using panel data from 94 countries from 1997―2020. These countries are grouped into 64 high―and 30 low―income countries. This study employed the generalised method of moment estimation. The results were based on estimation regressions and sensitivity analyses indicating that taxes negatively affect household consumption. Furthermore, taxes were found to be more effective at limiting household consumption in high―income countries. In conclusion, this study supports findings that were previously reported in literature. Policy makers should limit the distortive nature of taxes on household consumption by periodically assessing and controlling tax rates.

The new Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C by the International Panel on Climate Change presents the drastic need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the security and sustainable development of human kind. In Sweden, household consumption related carbon emissions needs to be radically reduced in order to meet the international climate goals set in this report. Changing individual behavior has proven over time to be a challenging task for many initiatives. Community-Based Social Marking is a behavior method that has been proven to be effective in creating sustainable behavior change at the community level. A case study is conducted at Avesta kommun in Sweden in order to discover what behavior is best to change to reduce the carbon footprint per person at this municipality, what strategy is best to achieve this goal and what effect this strategy will have. The results from the Community-Based Social Marketing case study show that a vegan diet as a behavior has the highest positive impact on the environment to promote in Avesta, but the behavior with the second highest impact, a vegetarian diet, is chosen due to its higher probability to implement and external health factors associated with a vegan diet. The strategy chosen is a Facebook page designed to provide weekly vegetarian recipes to families in Avesta with the goal of increasing their consumption of vegetarian food. The strategy is tested on a pilot group to determine its effectiveness. The conclusion of this study shows that the strategy is overall effective on the pilot group for increasing their knowledge and consumption of vegetarian meals.

The goal of this work is to analyze the evolution of household consumption of the states in the EU. The consumption will be researched in the view of classification COICOP, which is the classification of individual consumption by purpose. After mapping of this evolution the estimation of future values will be done from known time series. This estimation will be performed by two different ways. First one will respect the composition of household consumption in sections of classification COICOP. The second one will only work with time series of average consumption for all sections together. To compare the states cluster analysis will be done. This analysis will be done by two ways again. First one will be aimed to analyze the current situation and the second one will be aimed to analyze the evolution of household consumption. Instead of Microsoft Excel STATGRAPHICS X64 CENTURION and SPSS will be used in this thesis. Household consumption prognosis is the main benefit of this thesis. This prognosis is made for all sections of COICOP. Analysis has shown, that the consumption should rise in future. There are few exceptions, mainly countries with not good economic situation as Greece.

This study examines whether macroeconomic variables, such as household disposableincome, financial assets and total debt affect household consumption by applying Panel dataon The fixed effects model. The data included 13 European OECD countries that are membersof EMU between the years 2009-2019. The test showed that disposable income is the onlyvariable with statistically significant effect on household consumption. The life cyclehypothesis as well as The permanent income hypothesis, states that individuals strive forsmooth consumption by distributing their resources relatively evenly. That way they are ableto maintain a certain standard of living. According to The Ricardian equivalence theorem,neither changes in saving nor indebtedness increase private consumption, if the initial wealthremains unchanged. These theories are included in the theoretical reference which, togetherwith previous studies, constitutes the starting point for this paper.

In Sweden variable-rate mortgages are relatively common. Furthermore, householdindebtedness is high in relation to other nations within the European Union. Therefore,monetary policy has a stronger effect on the economy due to the household sensitivityregarding interest rates. During times of changes in the policy rate, the expectation is that theimpact on consumption is greater, because of a stronger effect due to higher sensitivity of theinterest rates. Moreover, consumption expenditures make up a large part of the Swedisheconomy, with approximately half of the gross domestic product consisting of householdconsumption. Because of the mentioned reasons it is important and compelling to examinethe relationship between the structure of the mortgage market, monetary policy andhousehold consumption. Thus, we investigate how the mortgage term affects householdconsumption during times the policy rate is changed. To answer the question an empirical method is utilized. The data used is quantitativesecondary data gathered from different sources and coordinated. The data material spans aperiod of roughly 17 years which contains three periods when the Swedish central bankchanged the policy rate and the observations are on a monthly basis, from january 2006 untilseptember 2023. To perform the analysis the statistical software IBM SPSS is used. Theregression analysis is implemented through the “General linear model”. The dependentvariable is household consumption. The explanatory variables include the proportion ofvariable-rate mortgages, disposable income, the policy rate as well as inflation. The policyrate and inflation are also lagged backward in time by one year respectively. The result of the regression analysis implicates that the effects of all the explanatory variablesin the study are statistically significant. As regards the policy rate though, only the laggedversion of the variable is statistically significant. The share of variable-rate mortgages, whichis a measurement of the mortgage term, has a negative effect on household consumption. Theeffect of disposable income is positive. Furthermore, both the policy rate and its laggedversion have negative effects on household consumption. In contrast, inflation has a positiveeffect while the lagged version of inflation has a negative effect on household consumptionwhich is larger in magnitude.

<p>This thesis consists of four papers: two of them deal with the relationship between consumption, energy taxation, and emissions on macro level, and two of them focuses on the effects of changes in consumption and income on the environmental quality on a micro level.</p><p>The main objective of paper [I] is to examine how exogenous technological progress, in terms of an increase in energy efficiency, affects consumption choice by Swedish households and thereby emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). The aim of the paper is closely related to the discussion of what is known as the “rebound effect”. To neutralise the rebound effect, we estimate the necessary change in CO2 tax, i.e. the CO2 tax that keeps CO2 emissions at their initial level. In addition, we estimate how this will affect emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The results indicate that an increase in energy efficiency of 20 percent will increase emissions of CO2 by approximately 5 percent. To reduce the CO2 emissions to their initial level, CO2 tax must be raised by 130 percent. This tax increase will reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide to below their initial level, but will leave the emissions of nitrogen oxides at a higher level than initially.</p><p>One of the premises implied in paper [II] is that the changes in consumer prices, as a result of changes in environmental taxes, may send a different signal to the consumer compared with other changes in consumer prices, such as changes in producer price. In addition, this assumed difference in the signaling effect of the changes in environmental taxes, compared to changes in the producer price, may also differ between different commodities. To achieve the objectives a system of demand functions for Swedish households is estimated. To test for the signalling effect of environmental taxes the consumer price for energy goods is partitioned into a producer price part and a tax part.</p><p>In Paper [III], we estimate the income elasticity of demand for recreational services and other traditional groups of goods in Sweden and we test for potential changes in such estimates over the twentieth century. The paper uses Swedish household surveys for the years 1913, 1984, 1988, and 1996. Because of the difficulty of directly observing the demand for recreational services, we employ an indirect methodology by using the demand for some outdoor goods as proxies for the recreational services demand.</p><p>In paper [IV], we investigate the relationship between pollution and income at the household level. Here we want to investigate, and hence contribute to the existing literature, under what conditions concerning individual preferences and the link between consumption and pollution a linear relationship are to be expected, but also to empirically assess the relationship. To achieve our objective we formulate a model determining different type of households’ choice of consumption for goods. Furthermore we link the demand model to emission functions for the various goods. The results from the empirical analysis show that, at least in a close neighbourhood of observed income/pollution, we can reject linearity for all three types of pollutions, CO2, SO2, and NOx. According to our results the pollution/income relationships are all strictly concave. Thus the implication is that the income distribution seems to matter in the sense that equalization of income will lead to higher emissions. Furthermore it is shown that the slope as well as the curvature differs between different types of households, which means that preferences differ across households.</p>

This thesis consists of four papers: two of them deal with the relationship between consumption, energy taxation, and emissions on macro level, and two of them focuses on the effects of changes in consumption and income on the environmental quality on a micro level. The main objective of paper [I] is to examine how exogenous technological progress, in terms of an increase in energy efficiency, affects consumption choice by Swedish households and thereby emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). The aim of the paper is closely related to the discussion of what is known as the “rebound effect”. To neutralise the rebound effect, we estimate the necessary change in CO2 tax, i.e. the CO2 tax that keeps CO2 emissions at their initial level. In addition, we estimate how this will affect emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The results indicate that an increase in energy efficiency of 20 percent will increase emissions of CO2 by approximately 5 percent. To reduce the CO2 emissions to their initial level, CO2 tax must be raised by 130 percent. This tax increase will reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide to below their initial level, but will leave the emissions of nitrogen oxides at a higher level than initially. One of the premises implied in paper [II] is that the changes in consumer prices, as a result of changes in environmental taxes, may send a different signal to the consumer compared with other changes in consumer prices, such as changes in producer price. In addition, this assumed difference in the signaling effect of the changes in environmental taxes, compared to changes in the producer price, may also differ between different commodities. To achieve the objectives a system of demand functions for Swedish households is estimated. To test for the signalling effect of environmental taxes the consumer price for energy goods is partitioned into a producer price part and a tax part. In Paper [III], we estimate the income elasticity of demand for recreational services and other traditional groups of goods in Sweden and we test for potential changes in such estimates over the twentieth century. The paper uses Swedish household surveys for the years 1913, 1984, 1988, and 1996. Because of the difficulty of directly observing the demand for recreational services, we employ an indirect methodology by using the demand for some outdoor goods as proxies for the recreational services demand. In paper [IV], we investigate the relationship between pollution and income at the household level. Here we want to investigate, and hence contribute to the existing literature, under what conditions concerning individual preferences and the link between consumption and pollution a linear relationship are to be expected, but also to empirically assess the relationship. To achieve our objective we formulate a model determining different type of households’ choice of consumption for goods. Furthermore we link the demand model to emission functions for the various goods. The results from the empirical analysis show that, at least in a close neighbourhood of observed income/pollution, we can reject linearity for all three types of pollutions, CO2, SO2, and NOx. According to our results the pollution/income relationships are all strictly concave. Thus the implication is that the income distribution seems to matter in the sense that equalization of income will lead to higher emissions. Furthermore it is shown that the slope as well as the curvature differs between different types of households, which means that preferences differ across households.

Nagrinėjant darnaus vystymosi problemas, iki šiol buvo akcentuojamas gamybos poveikis aplinkai ir žmogui. Ir tik pastaruoju metu atkreiptas dėmesys, kad nuo vartojimo būdo ir jo pasirinkimo priklauso aplinkos būklė. Šiame darbe atlikome Lietuvos gyventojų pajamų ir vartojimo apimties bei struktūros pokyčių analizę 1996 – 2006 metais, įvertinome šių pokyčių galimą poveikį aplinkai bei galimybes pasiekti ES šalių senbuvių lygį. Darbui buvo naudojami Statistikos departamento prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės ir Europos Statistikos agentūros EUROSTAT duomenys. Apibendrinus tyrimų rezultatus nustatyta, kad Lietuvos bendrasis vidaus produktas pradėjo itin sparčiai augti nuo 2001 metų ir pastaraisiais metais auga beveik po 10 %., o gyventojų pajamos ir išlaidos pradėjo sparčiau augti tik nuo 2004 metų ir pastarųjų metų prieaugis siekia beveik 20 %. Per visą analizuojamą laikotarpį BVP padidėjo 2,7 karto, o disponuojamos pajamos ir vartojimo išlaidos - apie 2 kartus. Namų ūkių vidutinių vartojimo išlaidų santykis 1996 - 2006 metais tarp turtingiausių ir skurdžiausių namų ūkių beveik nekito ir skirtumas sudarė 8,7 - 8,9 karto ir yra žymiai didesnis nei ES šalyse senbuvėse (5-6 kartai). Lietuvos namų ūkių vartojimo išlaidų makro struktūroje vienam namų ūkio nariui per mėnesį nuo 1996 iki 2006 metų 4 kartus padidėjo išlaidos turizmui (25,40 Lt). Mažiausiai išaugo maistui ir gėrimams 1,1 karto (27,80 Lt). Tuo tarpu išlaidos transportui padidėjo 3,7 karto (49,10 Lt), būstui ir jo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Ussualy analising sustainable development and environment problems the major focus is put on human and environmental impact of production. Recently more attention is paid to sustainable consumption and the environmental impact of consumption patterns. In this work changes of inhabitant’s income and expenditure dynamics and structure during 1996-2006 years in Lithuania is analyse. Possible impact of these changes to environment and Lithuanian possibility to reach the level of EU old members was estimated. For this analysis we used Lithuanian statistical department and European statistical agencies EUROSTAT data. Analysis shows that Lithuanian GDP was growing very fast from 2001 years and recently GDP was growth reached 10 % annually. Inhabitant incomes and expenditures have started growing just from 2004 years and incremented by 20 %. During the period under analysis GDP increase 2,7 times, but incomes and consumption expenditures – about 2 times. In 1996-2006 years household expenditures difference between rich and poor household inhabitant was stable and fluctuated about 8,7-8,9 times. While this indicator was 5-6 times in EU old members. Lithuanian household consumption expenditure per inhabitant per month for tourism increase 4 times (25,40 Lt) between 1996 and 2006 years. The minimum expenditures were for food and drink - 1,1 times (27,80 Lt), the expenditure for transport increase 3,7 times (49,10 Lt) and expenditure for accommodation 2 times (36,70 Lt). By the most... [to full text]

The main objective of the thesis is to seek insights into the theory, and provide empirical evidence of rebound effects. Rebound effects reduce the environmental benefits of environmental policies and household behaviour changes. In particular, win-win demand side measures, in the form of energy efficiency and household consumption pattern changes, are seen as ways for households and businesses to save money and the environment. However, these savings have environmental impacts when spent, which are known as rebound effects. This is an area that has been widely neglected by policy makers. This work extends the rebound effect literature in three important ways, (1) it incorporates the potential for variation of rebound effects with household income level, (2) it enables the isolation of direct and indirect effects for cases of energy efficient technology adoption, and examines the relationship between these two component effects, and (3) it expands the scope of rebound effect analysis to include government taxes and subsidies. MACROBUTTON HTMLDirect Using a case study approach it is found that the rebound effect from household consumption pattern changes targeted at electricity is between 5 and 10%. For consumption pattern changes with reduced vehicle fuel use, the rebound effect is in the order of 20 to 30%. Higher income households in general are found to have a lower total rebound effect; however the indirect effect becomes relatively more significant at higher household income levels. In the win-lose case of domestic photovoltaic electricity generation, it is demonstrated that negative rebound effects can occur, which can potentially amplify the environmental benefits of this action. The rebound effect from a carbon tax, which occurs due to the re-spending of raised revenues, was found to be in the range of 11-32%. Taxes and transfers between households of different income levels also have environmental implications. For example, a more progressive tax structure, with increased low income welfare payments is likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions. Subsidies aimed at encouraging environmentally friendly consumption habits are also subject to rebound effects, as they constitute a substitution of government expenditure for household expenditure. For policy makers, these findings point to the need to incorporate rebound effects in the environmental policy evaluation process.’

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:34:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JonilsonSF_DISSERT.pdf: 3703447 bytes, checksum: 91765e0c08059d8842a7eaffc73d1209 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-21 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / This research objectify to analyze the effects of minimum wage recovery in the household consumption in the Brazil, northeastern region of the Brazil and the state of the Rio Grande do Norte, in the period of 1995 to 2011. This is because the search for the strengthening of the internal market, via incentive policies to private demand has assumed prominence in the Government agenda. Thus, under the justification of the fierce debate about the effectiveness of countercyclical policies of Brazil, in view of the recent economic crisis, aims to: 1) retake the theoretical debate and, to a certain extent, the evolution of the theory of household consumption, as well as some conclusions about their connection with the minimum wage; 2) to describe the experiences and the effects of this legislation in economic history, with emphasis on the Brazilian case; 3) to present some of the available statistics to research bases, with attention to the specifics of each and the empirical results found for consumption in Brazil; 4) to estimate the effects of minimum wage variation in household consumption in Brazil (BR), northeast (NE) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN). From this, in order to quantify this relationship, makes inferences from the effects of the wage bill and the minimum wage on consumption, in quarterly series (with ad hoc adjustment from the "weights" of each quarter), from classic model of multiple linear regression. The hypothesis is that released: increments in income, derived from the policy of minimum wage recovery will influence directly the household consumption. However, when comparing the results between the units analyzed, the expressiveness of the northeastern families of Brazil and Rio Grande do Norte families front national dynamics with income linked to this floor, drives most significant impacts spending decisions in NE and RN, thus reducing regional disparities in the consumer. The results indicate contrary evidence, because while for the BR a unitary variation in minimum wage increases the consumption in units monetary 1.28, to the NE and RN these parameters are respectively 1.05 and 1.09 / A busca do fortalecimento do mercado interno via pol?ticas de incentivo ? demanda, privada tem assumido destaque na agenda governamental, particularmente ap?s a crise de 2008. Neste contexto, a presente pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar os efeitos da valoriza??o do sal?rio m?nimo no consumo das fam?lias brasileiras, nordestinas e potiguares, no per?odo de 1995 a 2011. Sob a justificativa do debate acerca da efetividade das pol?ticas antic?clicas do Brasil, pretende: 1) recuperar o debate te?rico e, em certa medida, a evolu??o da teoria do consumo agregado, bem como algumas ila??es sobre sua liga??o com o sal?rio m?nimo; 2) descrever as experi?ncias e os efeitos desta legisla??o na hist?ria econ?mica, com ?nfase para o caso brasileiro; 3) apresentar algumas das bases estat?sticas dispon?veis ? pesquisa, com aten??o ?s especificidades de cada uma e aos resultados emp?ricos encontrados para o consumo no Brasil; 4) estimar os efeitos da varia??o do sal?rio m?nimo no consumo familiar no Brasil (BR), Nordeste (NE) e Rio Grande do Norte (RN). A partir disso, no sentido de quantificar essa rela??o, realiza infer?ncias dos efeitos da massa salarial e do sal?rio m?nimo no consumo, em s?ries trimestrais (com ajuste ad hoc a partir dos pesos de cada trimestre), via modelo cl?ssico de regress?o linear m?ltipla. A hip?tese lan?ada consiste que: incrementos na renda, derivados da pol?tica de valoriza??o do sal?rio m?nimo influenciar?o diretamente o consumo das fam?lias. Por?m, quando comparados os resultados entre as unidades analisadas, a expressividade das fam?lias nordestinas e potiguares frente ? din?mica nacional com renda vinculada a esse piso, impulsiona impactos mais significativos nas decis?es de gasto no NE e no RN, reduzindo assim as disparidades regionais de consumo. Os resultados apontam evid?ncias contr?rias, pois enquanto para o BR uma varia??o unit?ria no sal?rio m?nimo aumenta o consumo em 1,28 unidades monet?rias, para o NE e RN esses par?metros s?o, respectivamente, 1,05 e 1,09