Volume 21: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part IV

Measuring the asymmetry of German society with the German Social Groups Skewness (SGSD) equation – based on Food-Energy-Water data Holger Schlör, Sandra Venghaus

Abstract

UNEP stresses the contribution of the individual consumption decisions to the global problems (i.e., loss of biodiversity, climate change, food and water security). These ecological problems are threatening the core of a sustainable development: the Food-Energy-Water-Nexus. Therefore, it will be analyzed how the different social groups of Germany contribute to the German consumption patterns. Seven social groups are selected and differentiated according to their income levels. For this analysis, the new German household expenditure survey (EVS) data sets of 2018 are used. To make the results comparable and independent of the household size of the social group, the equivalence income and expenditures of the social groups are determined. The equivalence data enables to measure the distribution of the household income and its expenditures for food, energy and water. Additionally, the empirical skewness is defined to determine the asymmetry of the income and consumption expenditures distribution. The new skewness equation is developed to analyze the distribution over the various household groups. Hence, it is possible to define the social asymmetry of the German society.

Keywords FEW-Nexus, disposable income, skewness, equivalence scale, Germany