Many studies have argued that relative income predicts individual well-being. More recently, it has been suggested that the relative rank of an individual’s income, rather than how that income compares to a mean or reference income, is important. Here the relative rank hypothesis is examined along with the additional hypothesis that individuals compare their incomes predominantly with those of ...

the neo- classical school on the situation of the individual and claims that individuals (consumers and producers) meet each in the market. on the supply side, there exists possibility of substitution between factors of production and, on the demand side, substitution by consumers between final goods. in the neo- classical production function capital and labor are taken as the determniants of t...

The current research develops and tests the theory that beliefs in economic mobility are affected by social capital at community level, especially for low-income individuals. Integrating concepts from perceived (PEM), this hypothesizes members of disadvantaged groups (vs. advantaged groups) more likely to adjust their PEM depending on level. Using archival data, multilevel analysis is employed ...

Business finance has been a major problem facing most businesses, both the small and large companies as well as the medium ones. Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) are no exceptions of the problems faced by businesses. These enterprises are mostly managed by low income earners. Some of these enterprises cannot grow into large companies because of lack of funds. The objectives of the stud...

We analyze the effect of means-tested benefits on annuitization decisions. Most industrialized countries provide a subsistence level consumption floor in old age, usually in the form of means-tested benefits. The availability of such means-tested payments creates an incentive to cash out (occupational) pension wealth for low and middle income earners, instead of taking the annuity. Agents trade...

BACKGROUND With a high rate of recurrence, urolithiasis is a chronic disease that impacts quality of life. The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System is an NIH validated questionnaire to assess patient quality of life. We evaluated the impact of urolithiasis on quality of life using the NIH-sponsored PROMIS-43 questionnaire. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients reporting to the ki...

How does income inequality and its structure affect credit? Based on various strands of the literature, we hypothesize that rising should lead to higher household credit at aggregate level, a substantial part this effect be driven by impoverishment middle class relative top-income households. These intuitions are empirically confirmed study based country-level dataset over period 1970–2017. To ...

The primary aim of this paper is to examine whether resources accruing to different members of the household and from different sources have differential impacts on household expenditure patterns. The issue is of considerable policy interest for, if the identity of the income recipient does matter in the household’s expenditure decisions, then it indicates the usefulness of targeting income ass...