How important is economic growth for reducing undernourishment in developing countries?

•It takes two years for income growth to lead to improvements in the Prevalence of Undernourishment, PoU.•Sustained income growth over 3 to 8 years results in greater improvements in PoU rates.•Besides the income growth, investments in health, education and access to drinking water reduce PoU.•The i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food policy 2016-08, Vol.63, p.87-101
Main Authors: Soriano, Bárbara, Garrido, Alberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Data analysis
Data processing
Developing countries
Drinking water
Economic analysis
Economic development
Economic growth
Education
Food
Health care policy
Health education
Impact analysis
LDCs
Malnutrition
Panel data
Prevalence of undernourishment
Rate of change
Undernutrition
Water supply
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•It takes two years for income growth to lead to improvements in the Prevalence of Undernourishment, PoU.•Sustained income growth over 3 to 8 years results in greater improvements in PoU rates.•Besides the income growth, investments in health, education and access to drinking water reduce PoU.•The indirect impact of income growth on PoU through social investments accounts 50% of its total impact. There is intense debate in the literature about how important economic growth is for solving the problem of undernourishment. This paper focuses on the rate of change in the prevalence of undernourishment and looks at whether higher economic growth speeds up reductions in undernutrition in developing countries. The analysis uses panel data analysis on data spanning 22years (1991–2012) and covering 27 developing countries. Results reveal that faster annual economic growth leads to larger annual improvements in undernourishment rates. Both annual and long-term economic growth are relevant. Sustained economic growth has a greater positive impact on undernutrition than short-term economic growth. In addition to economic growth, investments in health, education and access to drinking water are also enabling factors for reducing undernourishment. In conclusion, increased income growth can hasten the effects of food policies aimed at reducing undernourishment, but not to the extent that sustained growth and better access to health, education and drinking water can.
ISSN:0306-9192
1873-5657
DOI:10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.07.004