The cost of survival: evidence of household expenditures reallocation in the Philippines
| dc.contributor.advisor | Chan, Justin Rainer S. | |
| dc.contributor.author | De Leon, Ma. Michaela Beatrice | |
| dc.contributor.author | Sagana, Krisha Isabel | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-08-31T06:56:33Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-08-31T06:56:33Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2026-05-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | "The study examines Filipino household behavior regarding the adjustment of welfare expenditures in light of the overlapping price shocks from 2018 to 2023 in the Philippines. The pooled repeated cross-sections derived from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) dataset have been used to classify welfare expenditures into five functional clusters and employ Engel curve log-log models with interactions between year and decile and income and decile. The findings illustrate that Immediate Consumption represents an unaltered protected necessity with an increasing emphasis on its priority in poorer households due to price shocks' growing strength. On the contrary, Human Development and Protective Welfare demonstrate pronounced contractions in poor deciles in the pandemic years while higher-income households increase their investments in these two dimensions. Partial recovery had been achieved by 2023; however, it was only partial and largely income related. The Protective Welfare dimension is characterized by high income elasticity reflecting income inequality related to households; ability to cope with risks. Moreover, Human Development has been shown to be income-related, although being limited for poorer households. The Asset Formation and discretionary spending dimensions exhibit similar characteristics. Overall, the findings suggest a systematic process of welfare adaptation in which families cut back on Lifestyle expenditures first, followed by Protective Welfare and Human Development expenditures to maintain Immediate Consumption. Asset Formation becomes largely inaccessible to lower-income groups and is preserved by higher-income households. In this sense, inflation restructures not only spending levels but welfare allocation itself, amplifying inequality in households’ capacity to sustain protection, invest in development, and build long-term resilience, with welfare functions remaining strongly interconnected as shock effects reverberate across all dimensions." | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://selib.upd.edu.ph/etdir/handle/123456789/5273 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.subject | Expenditures | |
| dc.subject | Household | |
| dc.subject | Family income | |
| dc.title | The cost of survival: evidence of household expenditures reallocation in the Philippines | |
| dc.type | Thesis |