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.
Engelin kerroin
Johdanto
Tilastotietojen mukaan ErnstEngel vetää säännönmuutoksiin kulutusrakenteessa:perheen tulot ilman perheen tuloja osuus kotitalouden tuloista (tai kokonaismenoista) elintarvikkeiden ostoon pienenee. 'keskimääräiset tulot(taikeskimääräiset menot)kulutusruokaostoihin.Kun maa rikastuu, tällä osuudella on taipumus pienentyä.Tämä on Engelin laki.Elintarvikemenojen kokonaismäärän suhdehenkilökohtaisiin kulutusmenoihin ilmaistaan myös Engelin kerroin.
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.