五、总结
本文采用实验数据,探究相对收入和绝对收入以及收入不平等效应是如何影响居民消费的。在排除了违背选择连续性和理性人假设的观察值之后,我们发现:(1)绝对收入和相对收入通过影响居民的选择行为进而对个人效用同时起作用;(2)社会中的收入差距对商品的炫耀性影响主要体现在住房方面;(3)根据分区间回归的结果,笔者发现居民的受教育程度和职业在很大程度上决定了居民在社区中的收入排序位置,进而可以影响居民的消费和个人效用;(4)正如笔者所预期的那样,住房和汽车,这些我们预期为炫耀性消费品的商品,在统计上的确比非炫耀性消费品(如假期和保险),显得更具地位表征性。假期和保险的边际炫耀度的均值显著地偏小,说明绝对消费影响个人效用的作用仍然不容忽视。同时,住房和汽车的炫耀度的均值显著地偏大,说明相对消费同样起着作用。对于相对收入和消费对个人效用影响的分析,有助于了解中国的劳动市场和消费市场。从政策意义上来看,政府可以考虑对更具地位表征性的商品征税,进行转移支付来减小贫富差距。笔者希望本研究在一定程度上能够为宏观经济分析和税收等宏观政策的制定提供理论依据。
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