Browsing by Author "Guo, Xiaolin"

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    Tabagisme et insécurité alimentaire au Nouveau-Brunswick
    (l’Institut de recherche, de données et de formation du Nouveau-Brunswick, 2019) Emery, Herb; Tarasuk, Valerie; Guo, Xiaolin; Daigle, Bethany; Dutton, Daniel; Leonard, Philip; McDonald, Ted
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    Tobacco use and food insecurity in New Brunswick
    (New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training, 2019) Emery, Herb; Tarasuk, Valerie; Guo, Xiaolin; Daigle, Bethany; Dutton, Daniel; Leonard, Philip; McDonald, Ted
    Is smoking tobacco associated with higher rates of food insecurity? Food insecurity refers to a range of experiences – from concerns about running out of food before having enough money to buy more to not eating for a whole day due to a lack of food and money for food. Food insecurity is most prevalent in households with lower incomes, and food insecure families can find themselves in difficult situations in which they have to decide whether to “heat or eat.” In this report, researchers from the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT), the University of New Brunswick, and the University of Toronto examine the relationship between smoking and food insecurity to see if families are also faced with the decision to either “smoke or eat.” Using 2007-2017 data from the Canadian Community Health Survey this report asks whether smoking raises the risk of being food insecure, or smoking has no cause effect on food insecurity due to shared characteristics between smokers and food insecure households. The results show that households with smokers are more likely to be food insecure, though, food insecurity has a stronger relationship with poor health and well-being than tobacco use. Apart from the impact of smoking on food insecurity, this report also finds that individuals most likely to be food insecure are families with younger respondents, females, individuals with low levels of education, renters, urban dwellers, Aboriginals, and recent immigrants. The authors recommend a focus on implementing programs such as counselling, rather than higher taxation on cigarettes, as strategies to decrease tobacco use, as the latter could reduce the purchasing power of families’ incomes, including income available for food.
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    True cost of living measures for 10 provinces: Using an Engel Curve approach
    (New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training, 2019) Emery, Herb; Guo, Xiaolin
    What is the “True Cost of Living” in Canada? In Canada, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the official measure of the cost of living used by government and other organizations to make policy decisions, such as how to index salaries, public pension payments, and minimum wages. If the CPI does not accurately represent the cost of living, taxpayers could end up paying more than intended, and some households could receive less in the form of transfers and wages. It is therefore important that the “true cost of living” is measured accurately. Using 1997-2015 data from the Survey of Household Spending, researchers at the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) construct “true cost of living” measures for subgroups of the Canadian population based on consumers’ behaviour while estimating biases in the official CPI. Results show that provincial CPI measurements significantly vary from the true cost of living – particularly after the 2008-2009 recession. While the CPI suggests no major shocks to the economy, this report suggests a sharp increase in the cost of living and a decrease in real incomes for all Canadian households – an economic shock that persisted beyond 2012, particularly for females and households with children. For instance, structural changes in the location and slope of Engel Curves after 2009 also appear to coincide with various economic shocks. For instance, gasoline prices increased abruptly in 2010, and energy and food prices have continued to rise. Likewise, after 2009, consumers faced tighter access to consumer credit, which was accompanied by an increase in consumers paying down debt during a time of rapid growth in commodity prices. These findings suggest that households were not buffering against price shocks following the 2008-2009 recession.