Is Environmental Income Reporting Evasive in Household Surveys? Evidence From Rural Poor in Laos

verfasst von

Priyanka Parvathi, Trung Thanh Nguyen

Abstract

Literature has consistently reiterated that the self-employed non-poor underreport their business income to tax authorities and in household surveys. In this work, we measure the extent to which poor households engaging in illegal environmental activities underreport income in Laos. We use a two year panel data and apply the Engel curve to detect and estimate the reporting gap. We further use a switching probit regression to identify the factors of income underreporting and its impact on income poverty outcomes. Results show that on an average, rural households who earn at least a quarter of their income from the environment underreport by over 50% in household surveys resulting in overestimation of income poverty. Moreover, we find that a perceived threat to food security drives rural poor to engage in illegal environmental extraction.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Entwicklungs- und Agrarökonomik
Institut für Umweltökonomik und Welthandel

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Ecological economics

Band

143

Seiten

218-226

Anzahl der Seiten

9

ISSN

0921-8009

Publikationsdatum

01.2018

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Umweltwissenschaften (insg.), Volkswirtschaftslehre und Ökonometrie

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 2 – Kein Hunger

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.07.022 (Zugang: Geschlossen)