We studied whether relative income has an impact on subjective well-being among extremely poor people. Contrary to the findings in developed countries, where relative income has shown a significant and negative impact on subjective well-being, we cannot reject the hypothesis that relative income...

The generous Nordic model of welfare is commonly viewed as an exceptional success both in terms of equality and economic growth. However, it has recently become evident that subgroups of the population with weak labour market attachment and high welfare dependency, such as lone mothers, were...

This paper provides an in-depth look at some of the key development issues facing households in Ethiopia, in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Using household survey data from 2000, 2002, and 2005, we found that Ethiopia is making progress toward some vital MDG goals, but...

It is shown that if social welfare is the sum of logaritmic utility function, the optimal income distribution and the welfare effect of any income redistribution is independet of the equivalence scales. In optimum all households have the same per capita income. Based on this observation it is...

This paper analyzes the labor market participation behavior of retiring couples in Norway. To account for the unobserved heterogeneity in decision-making structure within the household, I formulate a mixed model by assuming there are two types of households, the cooperative type and the...

Offering electricity consumers time-differentiated tariffs may increase demand responsiveness, thereby reducing peak consumption. However, one concern is that time-differentiated tariffs may also attract consumers who benefit because of their consumption pattern, even without a corresponding...

Time-of-use and real-time spot pricing tariffs in conjunction with direct load control of water heaters was offered to residential electricity consumers in a large-scale demand response experiment. Hourly data from the experiment on consumption, temperature, wind, and hours of daylight comprise...

In Norway there is a growing concern that electricity production and transmission may not meet the demand in peak-load situations. It is therefore important to evaluate the potential of different demand side measures that may contribute to reduce peak load. This paper analyses data from an...

This paper analyses the demand response from residential electricity consumers to a demand charge grid tariff. The tariff charges the maximum hourly peak consumption in each of the winter months January, February and December, thus giving incentives to reduce peak consumption. We use hourly...

Standard practice of estimating purchasing power parities (PPP) involves using prices, in domestic currencies, of a common basket of goods and services, then calculating the price-equalizing exchange rate. In this article, I substitute observed consumer behavior for price data. On the assumption...