How Does E-Commerce Policy Affect Consumption Disparities of Rural Households?-Evidence from China

In the context of China’s ongoing efforts to promote countryside revitalization and facilitate domestic economic circulation,it is of great significance to reduce the consumption disparity among rural households and unleash the consumption potential in the countryside.Based on data from China Family Panel Studies,this paper adopts a staggered difference-in-differences method to assess the impact of the e-commerce to enter rural areas on the consumption disparity among rural households.Findings:the comprehensive demonstration work of promoting e-commerce to enter rural areas has reduced the consumption disparity among rural households through the following mechanisms.Firstly,this policy initiative has mitigated the consumption-inhibiting effect on rural household consumption due to the local market size and external market accessibility by promoting the distribution of consumer goods to villages.Secondly,this policy initiative has also increased the agricultural income of rural households and reduced their consumption disparity by distributing farm produce to cities and enhancing the agricultural income of rural households.Moreover,the work is characterized by inclusive growth and is not susceptible to the“elite capture”phenomenon.

CO_2 Emission Induced by Urban Household Consumption in China

Household consumption is one of the important factors that induce COL emission. Based on input-output model, this article calculated the intensity of CO2 emission of different income groups and seven provinces in China, and then estimated total CO2 emission induced by urban household consumption from 1995 to 2004 in China based on statistic data of household living expenditure. The results show that CO2 emission per capita induced by household consumption had increased from 1583 to 2498 kg CO2 during 1995-2004. The ratio of consumption-induced CO2 emission to total CO2 emission had risen from 19% to 30% in the past decade. Indirect CO2 emission accounted for an important part of the consumption-induced emission, the ratio of indirect emission to consumption-induced emission had risen from 69% to 79% during the same period. A significant difference in consumption-induced CO2 emission across different income groups and different regions has been observed. COs emission per capita of higher income groups and developed regions increased faster than that of lower income groups and developing regions. Changing lifestyle has driven significant increase in CO2 emission. Especially, increases in private transport expenditure （for example, vehicle expenditure） and house building expenditure are key driving factors of growth in consumption-induced COL emission. There are big differences in the amount of CO2 emission induced by change in lifestyle across different income groups and provinces. It can be expected that lower income households and developing regions will increase consumption to improve their livings with income growth in the future, which may induce much more CO2 emission. A reasonable level of CO2 emission is necessary to satisfy human needs and to improve living standard, but a noticeable fact is that CO2 emission per capita induced by household consumption in developed areas of China had reached a quite high level. Adjustment in lifestyle towards a low-carbon society is in urgent need.

Calculation and decomposition of regional household energy consumption in China:based on perspectives of urbanization and residents' consumption

Demographic urbanization caused great changes in scale of residents' consumption and residents' lifestyle and then impacted changes of regional household energy consumption. This paper expanded Logarithmic Mean Decomposition Index method through introducing variables of urbanization and residential consumption into the model. It also analyzed the influences of six factors as energy structure, energy intensity, population scale, urbanization, residential consumption, and consumption inhibit on regional household energy consumption. Results showed that in 2003-2012, impact of urbanization on regional household energy consumption of Chinese three areas was significantly higher than population size. The "population gathered in eastern region" phenomenon caused eastern region getting the largest population scale effect. Driving force of residential consumption on regional household energy consumption was much higher than the other five effects. Due to the comparative advantage of residential consumption compared with government consumption, investment, and net export, the decrease of consumption ratio promoted the growth of regional household energy consumption. Energy intensity in Chinese three regions kept reducing in 2003-2012. The progress of energy utilization technology slowed the growth of regional household energy consumption, and energy intensity effect was most significant in the central region.

Impact of Demographic Transition on Household Energy Consumption: A Case from China

Understanding how aging population and low fertility affect household energy consumption is important for optimizing household energy consumption and reaching effective policies.This paper studies the impacts of demographic transition on household energy consumption based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2016.Child-age dependency rate(CDR)and old-age dependency rate(ODR)are selected to track the shifts in age structure.They are introduced into a STIRPAT model to measure their impacts on household energy consumption.Besides,8 representative regions are additionally chosen and investigated to find some regional characteristics.The results show that current demographic transition to aging population expands household energy consumption.The aging population and low fertility cause additional challenges for energy saving and emission reduction.Household energy consumption in less developed areas is more likely to be affected by CDR and ODR.Regions with large population are also more easily influenced by demographic transitions especially CDR.This study emphases the effects of demographic elements on household energy consumption.It indicates that continuous optimization of household energy consumption structures should be based on population dynamics.

Guide of Rural Household Energy Sustainability Improvement in Northern China

The percentage of traditional energy in total rural household energy consumption remains at a high level. While the proportion of high-efficient energy and renewable energy is still low. Improving rural household energy sustainability can meet economic,environmental and social needs in the overall development context of northern China. Many barriers have obstructed the rapid sustainable development of rural household energy in terms of financial,political and technical aspects. Based on relational research and case study,the paper provides guiding of rural household energy sustainability improvement in northern China from energy efficient improvement,renewable energy use and improving equitable distribution,affordability and accessibility of sustainable energy.

Rural resident household food consumption patterns in the Ganzhou district of Zhangye city:an analysis based on ELES Model

Demand for food plays an important role in the adjustment of prices for agricultural products and for adjusting agricultural structure.By using the extended linear expenditure system(ELES),we analyzed the food consumption structure of rural residents in the Ganzhou district of Zhangye city,and determined the basic food-consumption demand,the marginal propensity of consumption,the income elasticities of demand,and the own-price and cross-price elasticities of local rural residents,all of which illustrate the influencing factors on food consumption of rural residents and for forecasting the food-consumption structure.Those analyses show the following:the rural residents’ expenditure on household basic food consumption reaches about 7,050.35 Yuan;the marginal propensities of consumption of fruits and vegetables are relatively high(0.062 and 0.106,respectively),followed by meat(0.044);the demands for various foods are increasing as income increases,with the largest income elasticity of demand corresponding to fruits(1.354) and the lowest to cereal(0.310);fruits and vegetables have relatively high own-price elasticities(respectively-0.879 and-0.442),with the cereal having the lowest one(-0.184).An increase in cereal prices would greatly affect demand for other products;with the rising size of rural households,the consumption for meat is decreasing whereas it is increasing for cereal.The improvement of household education levels will lead to the increase of fruit consumption(E = 0.297),which indicates that people will pay more attention to diet and nutrition structure with the improvement of education.Further,although the amount of cereal expenditure is continually growing,the share will be declining with the increase of household income in 2006-2012.For all these reasons,therefore,the government should encourage the cultivation of economic crops and guide the development of stockbreeding to ensure the stability of cereal output.In order to attain the balance between supply and demand,it is important to rationally adjust the prices of fruits and vegetables on the basis of the stable price of cereal.

Effects of the Resident Basic Medical Insurance Reform on Household Consumption in China

This paper investigates the causal relationship between the Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance(URRBMI)reform and household consumption in urban China using data from the Chinese Household Income Project survey and employing combination of the propensity score matching and difference-in-differences methods.The results yield three conclusions.First,the reform affected both the amount and share of household consumption.Specifically,the reform led to an increase in total household consumption,encompassing both medical and nonmedical expenditures.Among these,the proportion of medical consumption increased,while the proportion of nonmedical consumption reduced.Second,the impact of the URRBMI reform varied across consumption categories within nonmedical expenditure.Specifically,consumption for education and entertainment industries are positively impacted by the URRBMI reform in terms of both quantity and proportion.Third,low-income households benefit more from the URRBMI reform compared to middle-and high-income households.The main channels through which the URRBMI reform affects household consumption were the price effect and the crowding out effect on precautionary savings.

Crowding-in or Crowding-out:How Infrastructure Investment Affects Household Consumption

This paper constructs a dynamic model of household consumption decisions and accordingly designs empirical analyses to identify how infrastructure investment affects private consumption.The estimation results of provincial panel data reveal that infrastructure investment can not only indirectly promote household consumption through the income channel but also directly promote household consumption expansion through the expectations channel,with a significant"crowding-in"effect.However,the effect is significantly weaker in provinces with a lower housing supply elasticity,showing the"crowding-out"pattern through the wealth channel.Household survey data provide an explanation for individual heterogeneity.Infrastructure investment has a greater pushing effect on house prices in provinces with a lower housing supply elasticity.Rapid house price growth has significant"crowding-out"effects on the consumption of wealthy households.This not only significantly weakens the driving effect of infrastructure investment on aggregate household consumption,but also increases wealth inequality in the long term.This paper explains how infrastructure investment affects household consumption and the corresponding role played by house prices,providing empirical evidences for theoretical studies related to macro-regulatory policies in China.

The Empirical Analysis on the Dynamic Effect of Rural-urban Migration on the Consumption Growth of Residents in China——Based on Varying Parameter State-space Model

The research constructed varying parameter state-space model and per- formed estimation on dynamic relationship between urban-rural migration and aggre- gate consumption expenditure on basis of dual economic structure. The results showed that urban consumption growth made the most contribution to aggregate consumption growth, followed by urban-rural migration caused consumption. The role of rural consumption growth kept stable, but consumption caused by population growth was decreasing. Therefore, China consumption growth mainly relies on urban consumption expenditure and urban-rural migration.

Survey of Residential Air Conditioning Electricity Consumption in Shanghai

With proliferation of electric appliances, residential electricity consumption, in particular the air conditioning load becomes more and more important and shares higher and higher percentage in total consumption in large cities like Shanghai. The paper reports in detail the survey on characteristics of residential electric consumption, in particular the air conditioning consumption. To optimize power system operation and expand power market, the paper concludes that power industry must learn to investigate, open up and adapt itself to power market economy.

Relationship Between Economic Growth and Water Environmental Quality of Anshan City in Northeast China

Based on the decomposition model of environmental quality and univariate regression model,the relationships of industrial wastewater drainage with economic scale,economic structure,and technological level in Anshan,a mining city in Northeast China,were studied. The results showed that,due to scale effect,the drainage of three important industrial wastewater pollutants(COD,NH3-N and petroleum) increased 8505t,671t and 384t,respectively,and due to structure effect,those pollutants drainage increased 3996t,174t and 120t from 2001 to 2006. While due to technological effect,the drainage of COD,NH3-N and petroleum reduced 4452t,458t and 331t,and due to cross effect,those pollutants drainage reduced 7270t,575t and 476t simultaneously. Meantime,the relationships between household consumption structure and domestic sewage discharge were analyzed,and domestic sewage discharges in different income levels were also compared. The results showed that,the domestic sewage discharges would increase 376t with 1000 yuan(RMB) increased in the traffic and communication consumption,and they would be 344t,219t,428t,1873t,respectively,in housing consumption,food consumption,medical consumption,miscellaneous commodity consumption. The proportion of domestic sewage discharge increased for high income residents significantly,but reduced for lower income residents. The industrial wastewater pollutants drainage tends to be reduced by technical progress,while domestic sewage discharge will be a more important factor for urban water environment quality.

Development of the Insurance Industry in Europe in Economic and Financial Crisis

This paper analyzes the evolution of the insurance sector in Europe, focuses on the European Union （EU） member states, and considers the impact of economic and financial crisis on that sector. The European private insurance market is a developed market having an investment portfolio of 7,740 billion euros in 2011, an amount corresponding to 55% of the gross domestic product （GDP） of the 32 European markets members of Insurance Europe. Therefore, the importance of this sector as a long-term investor and major employer is obvious for the stability and growth of European economy. However, the insurance sector has been considerably affected since 2009 due to the global economic and financial crisis, which has had negative effects not only on the evolution of the value of insurance premiums underwritten, but also on the return on investment of the insurance companies.

Impacts of household living consumption on energy use and carbon emissions in China based on the input–output model

China must urgently accelerate its decrease of energy use,optimize its energy structure,reduce CO2 emissions,and promote the early realization of an ecological civilization.Simultaneously,meeting the growing consumer demand is one of the reasons for the increase in energy use.This study investigates the impacts of household consumption on energy use and CO2 emissions from the perspective of the lifestyle of Chinese residents.On the basis of the input–output model of 30 provinces,we analyze the current situation of energy use and CO2 emissions in different regions(spatial scale)with economic development and income improvement(time scale),investigate the pulling effect of household consumption in different provinces on industrial sectors,examine the influencing factors of indirect CO2 emissions from food,clothing,housing,and transportation in key regions,and explore the policy implications of the transition to a low-carbon lifestyle in different provinces.Results show that the fuel structure of Chinese residents should be optimized further.Total household energy consumption and total CO2 emissions considerably increased.In 2012,total household energy consumption accounted for nearly 30%of total energy consumption,while indirect CO2 emissions accounted for 66.3%of total household emissions.With regard to the structures of indirect household energy consumption,the housing sector accounted for the largest proportion,reaching 23.4%in indirect energy consumption in 2012.The pulling effect of the housing sector on industrial sectors was also evident.The decomposition analysis showed that the rapid increase in indirect household CO2 emissions was primarily due to the increase in per capita living expenditure.The consumption structures in different provinces produced various impacts,and the energy intensity effect was identified as an important factor for reducing indirect household CO2 emissions.

How Does Digital Finance Promote Household Consumption:An Analysis Based on Micro Survey Data

The inexorable rise of digital finance has lead to huge changes in consumption patterns.Under this background,we match the index of Digital Financial Inclusion with data of the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)to explore the relationship between digital finance and household consumption.Firstly,based on sub-sample empirical analysis,we find that digital finance has helped increase urban household consumption,especially the basic consumption related to life,in China.Secondly,we discuss the mechanism of digital finance to promote household consumption,concluding that the payment convenience of digital finance has accelerated household consumption decisions,thereby promoting consumption growth.Moreover,digital finance can also promote household consumption by reducing the uncertainty faced by family.

Quantitative Analysis of the COVID-19 Pandemic Shock to Household Consumption in China

We study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic shock on household consumption in China.Using household survey data,we find that the proportion of liquidity-constrained households increases quickly,but the constraint levels vary across distinct groups.We build a heterogeneous agent life cycle incomplete market model to analyze the long-run and short-run effects of the pandemic shock.The quantitative results reveal a slow recovery of consumption due to three reasons:hiking unemployment rate,declining labor productivity,and worsening income stability.The hiking unemployment rate plays the key role in households,consumption reduction since it simultaneously leads to a negative income effect and upsurging precautionary saving motives.Our paper highlights the importance of maintaining a stable labor market for faster recovery.

Understanding high-emitting households in the UK through a cluster analysis

Anthropogenic climate change is a global problem that affects every country and each individual.It is largely caused by human beings emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.In general,a small percentage of the population is responsible for a large amount of emissions.This paper focuses on high emitters and their CO2 emissions from energy use in UK homes.It applies a cluster approach,aiming to identify whether the high emitters comprise clusters where households in each cluster share similar characteristics but are different from the others.The data are mainly based on the Living Cost and Food survey in the UK.The results show that after equivalising both household emissions and income,the high emitters can be clustered into six groups which share similar characteristics within each group,but are different from the others in terms of income,age,household composition,category and size of the dwelling,and tenure type.The clustering results indicate that various combinations of socioeconomic factors,such as low-income single female living in an at least six-room property,or highincome retired couple owning a large detached house,could all lead to high CO2 emissions from energy use at home.Policymakers should target each high-emitter cluster differently to reduce CO2 emissions from energy consumption at home more effectively.

Accurate Understanding of China's Income, Consumption and Investment

This study elaborates on the differences between resident disposable income in the flow of fimds table and in the household survey; between household consumption in expenditure- based GDP and in the household survey; and between gross fixed capital formation in expenditure-based GDP and total fixed asset investment in the whole country as shown in investment statistics, from the point of view of their basic concepts and purposes, scope of specifications, data sources, calculation methods and data presentation. We show that the household survey somewhat underestimates household income and consumption, while investment statistics somewhat overestimate total investment in fixed assets. This does not, however, directly affect the accurate understanding of such major economic structures as the structure of the distribution of Chinese nationals＇ disposable income among households, enterprises and government, the structure of final demand, etc.