臺灣生命循環不均度=Inequality over the Life Cycle: The Case of Taiwan (In Chinese With English summary)

Abstract

Deaton and Paxon (1994) 研究臺灣1976–1990 年、美國1980–1990年與英國1969–1990 年的家戶生命循環不均度, 發現同一世代的人, 其消費和所得的不均分配, 隨著年齡增長, 如扇形般的散開增長。後續研究, 或以不同國家資料、或應用更新較長資料、或利用不同控制變數,檢視Deaton-Paxson實證發現的頑強性(robustness)。據我們所知, 並沒有相關臺灣的接續研究, 本文目的即是試圖補上此一缺口。我們以主計總處1976–2011 年的家庭收支調查資料進行分析, 檢視1990 年以前和以後是否有差異, 較長資料和1990 年以前較短資料顯示的資訊是否有別, 另外, 我們也以臺灣更新較長資料的發現和英美後續研究的發現作比較。 The seminal work of Deaton and Paxson (1994) uses Personal Income Distribution Surveys of Taiwan (1976-1990), Family Expenditure Survey of UK (1969-1990), and Consumer Expenditure Survey of US (1980-1990) to study inequality over the life cycle. They find that within cohort inequality of earnings and of consumption fan out over time, suggesting a sizable, uninsurable random component of earnings. Later studies employ different country data, new and longer-term data, or different control variables to examine the robustness of the Deaton-Paxson finding. To our knowledge, there has been no subsequent study on Taiwan. The purpose of this paper is to fill in the void by using the same but longer data (1976-2011) on Taiwan. We compare the differences before and after 1990, short- and long-term data, and Taiwan versus UK and US.