Resumo:This paper develops a new methodology to compute social cost of living indices. These indices indicate whether or not price changes have a favourable (or unfavourable) impact on the welfare of the poor. The indices are derived on the basis of two alternative classes of social welfare functions. The methodology developed in the paper is applied to compute social cost of living indices for Thailand and Korea. The empirical results show that changes in prices have generally affected the poor more adversely than the non-poor.

Palavras-chave:Social Cost of Living, Democratic and Plutocratic costs of living indices, Social expenditure function, Social budget shares, Atkinson’s inequality
Data de publicação:
Tipo/Issue:Working Paper/11
ISSN:1812-108x