台灣貧窮門檻與測量的建立：FCSU的應用

The Establishment of Poverty Threshold and Measurement in Taiwan: The Application of FCSU Method

王德睦(Te-Mu Wang) ； 呂朝賢(Chao-Hsien Leu) ； 何華欽(Hua-Chin Ho)

《臺大社會工作學刊》 8期 (2003/12) Pp. 1-46

https://doi.org/10.6171/ntuswr2003.08.01

摘要

貧窮門檻是一個運用極廣，且相當實用的指標：一方面它可以作為不同人口群、家戶、區域、時間的經濟福祉(Economic Well-Being)之指標，以做為檢視經濟發展與公共政策成效之評量基準；另一方面它亦可當做政策與方案之服務對象範圍界定之參考，可讓我們知道社會中還有那些弱勢者，仍需政府之介入來滿足其需求。本研究的目的在於，檢討相關文獻中貧窮測量方式，並以台灣的資料對較為合宜或資料可及的方式做適當的模擬。在可取得的次級資料的條件與政策的施行便利的限制條件下，本文使用Citro and Michael(1995)的FCSU預算乘數法來設定四口之家（兩大人兩小孩）預算，並考慮家戶規模、調整合適的均等比來設定貧窮門檻。
經過本文FCSU預算乘數法的模擬設定，貧民率為3.21%、貧戶率為4.49%。研究發現合宜的均等比調整會提升小戶量家戶的貧窮門檻，使得社會中處於不利地位的貧窮老人家戶可以被彰顯現出來。而合宜的均等比設定也可以降低大戶量家戶的貧窮門檻數值，讓我們不至於高估大戶量家戶的貧窮率，這正是均等比調整在貧窮門檻設定中所扮演的重要性。

關鍵字

家戶規模 ； 貧窮門檻 ； 貧窮人口組成

並列摘要

Poverty threshold is a very practical and widely used indicator: it has been used as an indicator for the economic well-being of population groups, family, region and time period. Furthermore, it can be and has been used as the basis to evaluate economic development and to determine the effectiveness of public policy; and at the same time, it is also used as a reference to delineate the scope of needed services in policy and agenda formulation, and, therefore, provided us a clearer picture in identifying the disadvantaged groups that would need governmental intervention to meet their basic needs. The purpose of this research is, first, to review and to assess the existing literature on poverty threshold measurements. Once this first step is completed, using appropriate data, various measurements will be applied to the Taiwan situation to simulate the results of poverty rates and poverty compositions. Within the limitation of the available secondary data and the constrain of the convenience of policy promotion, FCSU method by Citro and Michael was used to calculate the budget of a family with two adults and two children. Taking into account family size and adjusting proper equivalence scale, the poverty threshold was also determined.
Using FCSU method, our simulated study shows that the percentage of the poverty population is 3.21%, and that of the poverty family is 4.49%. It was found that adjusting equivalence scale will elevate the poverty threshold of the smaller family, thus the socially disadvantaged family, especially poor elderly households, will become more obvious and pronounced. With proper equivalence scale, the poverty threshold of the larger family will be reduced, and a more precise poverty proportion of it is also shown. Thus, it is very important that the equivalence scale is adjusted in setting up the poverty threshold.

並列關鍵字

family size ； poverty threshold ； poverty population composition

參考文獻

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