Is Environmental Income Reporting Evasive in Household Surveys?

Evidence From Rural Poor in Laos

authored by

Priyanka Parvathi, Trung Thanh Nguyen

Abstract

Literature has consistently reiterated that the self-employed non-poor underreport their business income to tax authorities and in household surveys. In this work, we measure the extent to which poor households engaging in illegal environmental activities underreport income in Laos. We use a two year panel data and apply the Engel curve to detect and estimate the reporting gap. We further use a switching probit regression to identify the factors of income underreporting and its impact on income poverty outcomes. Results show that on an average, rural households who earn at least a quarter of their income from the environment underreport by over 50% in household surveys resulting in overestimation of income poverty. Moreover, we find that a perceived threat to food security drives rural poor to engage in illegal environmental extraction.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics
Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade

Type

Article

Journal

Ecological economics

Volume

143

Pages

218-226

No. of pages

9

ISSN

0921-8009

Publication date

01.2018

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Environmental Science, Economics and Econometrics

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.07.022 (Access: Closed)