解析台灣農業家戶之所得不均度：兼論非農業所得與農家所得不均之關連

Farm Household Income Inequality in Taiwan: The Association of Nonfarm Income and Income Inequality

所得不均的議題在經濟學領域中是長久以來持續被討論的問題，尤其是近年來在全球經濟環境變化下，各界對於所得不均問題的惡化越趨重視。本研究採用主計處1979－2008年之家庭收支調查資料，利用多種指標檢視台灣農家所得不均度在過去三十年間的變動，並就戶長教育程度與年齡分類的群組，比較分析群組之間不均度的差異，以深入了解台灣農業家戶所得不均度的本質。此外，由於非農業所得一直是農家所得中相當重要的部分，而為了支持長久以來相對弱勢的台灣農業，政府也實施了多項補貼與福利政策，因此本文依照Shorrocks（1980，1982，1984）提出之所得不均度拆解方式，探討非農業所得與政府移轉支出對於農家所得不均的影響。本研究之實證結果顯示，農家可支配所得Gini係數在1993年前呈現上升之趨勢，之後則逐漸下滑，而高齡與低教育水準戶長之農家的所得不均度普遍高於青壯年與中高教育水準戶長之家戶。進一步使用考量家庭人口組成之均等化所得來衡量所得不均度之後，我們發現結果有相當差異，顯示家庭人口的規模與組成對於農業家戶所得不均存在影響。最後，經由拆解所得不均度的來源，本研究證實非農業所得為擴大農業家戶不均度之主要因素，而政府的補貼則如預期產生顯著縮小不均度之效果。 Income inequality has been an important topic subject to long-lasting discussion by economists. Due to recent changes in the global economic environment, deteriorating income inequality has attracted even more attention. Using data collected from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey conducted by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) of Taiwan, this study investigates the trends of farm household income inequality over the last 30 years. We further group the farm household population according to the education level and the age of the household head to delineate the nature of farm household income inequality in Taiwan. Moreover, since non-farm income and government transfers have been important sources of income for the farm households, we also attempt to measure the impacts of non-farm income and government transfers on the income inequality of the farm households following the inequality decomposition method proposed in Shorrocks (1980, 1982, 1984). It is found that Taiwan's farm household income inequality has been increasing steadily since 1980, which then peeked at 1993-1994 and moved on towards a downward trend afterwards. Furthermore, between-group comparisons suggest farm household income is more evenly distributed among households with younger or better-educated household heads. The results; however, are quite different when household size and composition are taken into consideration, indicating the possible influences of household size and composition on farm household income inequality measures. Finally, results from the inequality decomposition suggest non-farm income can aggravate the farm household income inequality, whereas government transfer does help reduce farm household income inequality as expected.

Income inequality has been an important topic subject to long-lasting discussion by economists. Due to recent changes in the global economic environment, deteriorating income inequality has attracted even more attention. Using data collected from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey conducted by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) of Taiwan, this study investigates the trends of farm household income inequality over the last 30 years. We further group the farm household population according to the education level and the age of the household head to delineate the nature of farm household income inequality in Taiwan. Moreover, since non-farm income and government transfers have been important sources of income for the farm households, we also attempt to measure the impacts of non-farm income and government transfers on the income inequality of the farm households following the inequality decomposition method proposed in Shorrocks (1980, 1982, 1984). It is found that Taiwan's farm household income inequality has been increasing steadily since 1980, which then peeked at 1993-1994 and moved on towards a downward trend afterwards. Furthermore, between-group comparisons suggest farm household income is more evenly distributed among households with younger or better-educated household heads. The results; however, are quite different when household size and composition are taken into consideration, indicating the possible influences of household size and composition on farm household income inequality measures. Finally, results from the inequality decomposition suggest non-farm income can aggravate the farm household income inequality, whereas government transfer does help reduce farm household income inequality as expected.