Characterintroduction
Engel,borninDresden,Germanstatistician,famousforEngel'slaw.Inhisearlyyears,hehadacloserelationshipwiththeFrenchsociologistFrédéricLePlay.LePlaywasveryinterestedinfamilyissues,whichledEngeltoconductaninvestigationofthefamily.TheexpendituredatacollectedinthesesurveysconvincedEngelthattherewasaconnectionbetweenthehousehold’sincomeandthehousehold’sexpenditureonfoodandotheritems.Thisisoneofthefirstquantitativefunctionalrelationshipsestablishedineconomics.Notonlythat,healsofoundthatfamilieswithhigherincomegenerallyspendmoreonfoodthanpoorerfamilies,buttheproportionoffoodexpenditureinthetotalbudgetisgenerallyinverselyproportionaltoincome.Startingfromthisempiricallaw,hefurtherdeducedthatintheprocessofeconomicdevelopment,comparedwithothereconomicsectors,agriculturewillshrink(Engel,1857).During1860-1882EngelwastheheadofthePrussianBureauofStatisticsinBerlin,andhedidalotofworkinthenameofthePrussianBureauofStatisticstodevelopandstrengthenofficialstatistics.HeresignedbecauseheopposedBismarck'sprotectionistpolicies.Inhisresearchwork,heespeciallystudiedthevalueofhumanlifefromthecostaspect.Healsoinvestigatedtheimpactofpricesondemand.HisinfluenceonofficialstatisticsisfarbeyondGermany.In1885heparticipatedinthefoundingoftheInternationalStatisticalSociety.HediedinRadebeulin1896.
Коефициент на Engel
Въведение
Според статистическите данни, ErnstEngel чертае правило за промени в структурата на потреблението: колкото по-малък е доходът на семейството, толкова по-малък е доходът на семейството, По-голямата част от дохода (или общия разход) се изразходва за покупки на храна, тъй като доходът на домакинството се увеличава , делът на доходите на домакинствата (или общите разходи), похарчени за покупки на храна, ще намалее. 'среден доход (или среден разход) изразходван за покупки на храна. Тъй като страната става по-богата, тази пропорция има тенденция да намалява. Това е законът на Енгел.
Application
Internationally,theEngelcoefficientisoftenusedtomeasurethelivingstandardsofpeopleinacountryandregion.AccordingtothestandardsproposedbytheFoodandAgricultureOrganizationoftheUnitedNations,anEngelcoefficientabove59%meanspoverty,50-59%meansfoodandclothing,40-50%meanswell-off,30-40%meansrich,andlessthan30%meanstherichest.Whenourcountryusesthisstandardtocompareinternationalandurban-ruralcomparisons,wemusttakeintoaccountthoseincomparablefactors,suchasthedifferenceinthepriceofconsumergoods,thedifferenceinresidents'livinghabits,andthespecialfactorscausedbythedifferenceinsocialandeconomicsystems.Fortheseincomparableproblemsincross-sectionalcomparisons,correspondingeliminationsshouldbemadeduringanalysisandcomparison.Inaddition,whenobservingchangesinhistoricalconditions,itshouldbenotedthattheEngelcoefficientreflectsalong-termtrend,ratherthananabsolutetrendofdecliningyearbyyear.Itseeksthelong-termtrendbysmoothingoutshort-termfluctuations.