Income Versus Prices: How Does The Business Cycle Affect Food (In)-Security?

Author/Editor:

Christian Bogmans ; Andrea Pescatori ; Ervin Prifti

Publication Date:

September 24, 2021

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

We study how two aspects of food insecurity - caloric insufficiency and diet composition - are affected by aggregate economic fluctuations. The use of cross-country panel data allows us to adopt a global prospective on the identification of the macroeconomic determinants of food insecurity. Income shocks are the most relevant driver of food insecurity, displaying high elasticities at the early stages of economic development. The role of food price shocks is more limited. Social protection has a direct effect and mitigates the impact of income shocks. Effects are highly heterogeneous across a range of structural characteristics of the economy, highlighting the role of distributional aspects and of food import dependency.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2021/238

Subject:

Frequency:

regular

English

Publication Date:

September 24, 2021

ISBN/ISSN:

9781557752468/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2021238

Pages:

40

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