A Study On The Inequality And Marginal Propensity Of Household Consumption Carbon Emission In China

The 14th Five-Year Plan lists "continuous improvement of environmental quality" and "improvement of income distribution system and wealth distribution pattern" as one of China’s long-range goals for 2035,which means that not only to reduce the income gap and solve the problem of income inequality,but also to comprehensively consider sustainable household consumption and low-carbon development,and constantly solve environmental problems and improve environmental quality.Although China’s carbon emission mainly stems from the rapid development of industrialization for a long time,under the trend of optimization and upgrading of the consumption structure in China,with the continuous growth of the residents’ consumption level,carbon emissions in the residents’ consumption area will continue to grow,and at the same time,the "dual circulation" strategy is further promoted to stimulate the domestic consumption market,carbon emissions in the household consumption area will increase significantly.In this context,based on the changes of household per capita income and household consumption carbon emissions of different income groups,the main scientific question of this study is put forward: What is the main source of carbon emission inequality in household consumption among different income groups in China? What is the trend of marginal propensity to emit(MPE)of household consumption carbon emissions of different income groups in China? Can household consumption reduce carbon emissions and improve income inequality at the same time?Based on the data of 2010-2018 China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)and from the perspective of the differences in per capita income and consumption patterns of households of different income groups,this paper studied the carbon emission characteristics and MPE of households of different income groups nationwide and in different regions.Firstly,according to the consumer lifestyle approach(CLA),carbon emission coefficient method and input-output method,eight types of household consumption carbon emissions of different income groups were calculated,and the characteristics and inequality of household consumption carbon emissions of each income group were analyzed.Secondly,the STIRPAT model is extended and improved by adding quadratic and cubic power into the model,and the nonlinear relationship between per capita household income and per capita household consumption carbon emissions is verified by using the single logarithmic nonlinear equation to fit the model.Finally,starting from an empirical perspective,this paper calculates the MPE of four types of carbon emissions,which account for a large amount of carbon emissions from per capita household consumption,and analyzes its change trend,so as to obtain the relationship between promoting household consumption carbon emission reduction and improving income inequality.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Carbon emissions per capita from household consumption in all provinces in the study area increased significantly during 2010-2018,and carbon emissions differences between regions became more and more prominent.In terms of the differences of household carbon emissions from different income groups,the carbon emissions from household consumption of all income groups during 2010-2018 were mainly from food,clothing,housing and household daily necessities,and the per capita carbon emissions of all consumption types of households of all income groups had significant growth,among which the carbon emissions from household daily necessities and residential consumption had the most significant growth.In terms of the growth trend and contribution of total carbon emissions of households of different income groups,although the growth rate of carbon emissions slowed down from 2010 to 2018,due to the large increment,the contribution rate of growth of households of high,middle and high income groups was still high.In addition,from 2010 to 2018,the carbon emission inequality of household consumption among different income groups in the country and regions was mainly derived from the carbon emission of household daily necessities and other consumption,while the carbon emission inequality of food and health care consumption was relatively low.(2)Combined with the results of fixed effects model,it is found that the effects of the per capita household income of different income groups on the per capita household consumption carbon emissions are different,and the effects of the per capita household income of low,middle-low,middle,middle-high and high income groups on the per capita household consumption carbon emissions are weakened successively.The per capita consumption carbon emissions of households of different income groups are increasing with the increase of the per capita household income.In addition,the study found that the family size of different income groups is always negatively correlated with the carbon emissions of per capita household consumption,which means that there are obvious economies of scale in household energy consumption.(3)In terms of marginal propensity of household carbon emissions from different income groups,the total carbon emissions from per capita household consumption,carbon emissions from per capita food consumption,carbon emissions from per capita clothing consumption,carbon emissions from per capita residential consumption and carbon emissions from per capita household commodities consumption decreased with the increase of per capita household income.That is to say,there is a balanced relationship between promoting the total carbon emission of per capita household consumption,carbon emission reduction of per capita household food,clothing,housing and daily necessities,and improving income inequality.(4)From the perspective of marginal propensity of household consumption carbon emission of different income groups in different regions,the data results show obvious regional differences.With the increase of household per capita income,the marginal tendency of household per capita consumption carbon emission decreases in eastern and western regions.The marginal propensity of per capita household consumption carbon emission in central China is increasing,so promoting household consumption carbon emission reduction and improving income distribution inequality may be achieved at the same time.There is no obvious trend in the marginal tendency of per capita household carbon emission in Northeast China.It is difficult to accurately judge the relationship between promoting household carbon emission reduction and improving the inequality of income distribution.