Engel's law is an observation in economics stating that as income increases, the proportion of income spent on food decreases, even if absolute expenditure on food increases. The law was named after the statistician Ernst Engel (1821–1896). One application of this statistic is treating it as a reflection of the living standard of a country. As this proportion — or "Engel coefficient" — increases, the country is by nature poorer; conversely a low Engel coefficient indicates a higher standard of living. Engel's Law image source: Wikipedia Using data collected through National Social and Economic Survey (NSES) by BPS-Statistics Indonesia, I tried to examine the existence of Engel's Law among households that received social grants in West Papua-Indonesia. Some studies found that giving additional money to the low-income households resulted in an increase in overall expenditure on food (on absolute) but the proportion of income spent on food would decrea...
“In God we trust. All others must bring data.” – W. Edwards Deming