IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/21697.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Caloric Requirements and Food Consumption Patterns of the Poor

Author

Listed:
  • Shari Eli
  • Nicholas Li

Abstract

How much do calorie requirements vary across households and how do they affect food consumption patterns? Since caloric intake is a widely-used indicator of poverty and welfare, investigating changes in caloric requirements and food consumption patterns is important, especially for the poor. Combining anthropometric and time-use data for India, we construct a quantitative measure of individual and household caloric requirements. We then link our estimates of caloric requirements with consumption data to examine how caloric requirements coupled with household expenditures shape food demand. Our applications include the measurement of hunger and the role of caloric requirements in explaining food consumption puzzles related to household-scale and changes in caloric intake over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Shari Eli & Nicholas Li, 2015. "Caloric Requirements and Food Consumption Patterns of the Poor," NBER Working Papers 21697, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21697
    Note: DEV
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21697.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    2. Trevon D. Logan, 2011. "Economies Of Scale In The Household: Puzzles And Patterns From The American Past," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 1008-1028, October.
    3. Ingvild Almas, 2012. "International Income Inequality: Measuring PPP Bias by Estimating Engel Curves for Food," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 1093-1117, April.
    4. Deepankar Basu & Amit Basole, 2013. "An Empirical Investigation of the Calorie Consumption Puzzle in India," Working Papers 2013_03, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    5. Angus Deaton & Christina Paxson, 1998. "Economies of Scale, Household Size, and the Demand for Food," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 897-930, October.
    6. Partha Dasgupta & Debraj Ray, 1987. "Adapting to Undernourishment: The Clinical Evidence and Its Implications," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1987-010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Deepankar Basu & Amit Basole, 2012. "The Calorie Consumption Puzzle in India: An Empirical Investigation," Working Papers wp285, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    8. Dora L. Costa, 2001. "Estimating Real Income in the United States from 1888 to 1994: Correcting CPI Bias Using Engel Curves," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(6), pages 1288-1310, December.
    9. repec:mab:wpaper:16 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. John Gibson, 2002. "Why Does the Engel Method Work? Food Demand, Economies of Size and Household Survey Methods," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(4), pages 341-359, September.
    11. Gibson, John, 2002. "Why Does the Engel Method Work? Food Demand, Economies of Size and Household Survey Methods," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(4), pages 341-359, September.
    12. Gardes, F. & Starzec, C., 2000. "Economies of Scale and Food Consumption : a Reappraisal of the Deaton-Paxson Paradox," Papiers d'Economie Mathématique et Applications 2000.08, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    13. Awudu Abdulai, 2003. "Economies of Scale and the Demand for Food in Switzerland: Parametric and Non‐Parametric Analysis," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 247-267, July.
    14. Bruce W. Hamilton, 2001. "Using Engel's Law to Estimate CPI Bias," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 619-630, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leandro De Magalhães & Dongya Koh & Raül Santaeulàlia-Llopis, 2016. "Consumption and Expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 16/677, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK, revised 07 Oct 2016.
    2. J. V. Meenakshi, 2016. "Trends and patterns in the triple burden of malnutrition in India," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(S1), pages 115-134, November.
    3. Leandro DE MAGALHÃES & Dongya KOH & Räul SANTAEULILA-LLOPIS, 2019. "The Cost of Consumption Smoothing: Less Schooling and less Nutrition," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(3), pages 181-208, September.
    4. Archana Dang & Indrani Gupta, 2021. "Obesity and its Impact on COVID Occurrence: Evidence from India," IEG Working Papers 430, Institute of Economic Growth.
    5. Biswabhusan Bhuyan & Bimal Kishore Sahoo & Damodar Suar, 2020. "Quantile Regression Analysis of Predictors of Calorie Demand in India: An Implication for Sustainable Development Goals," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 18(4), pages 825-859, December.
    6. Archana Dang & Indrani Gupta, 2023. "Overnutrition and COVID Prevalence in India: Evidence and Implications," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 17(1), pages 44-59, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Trevon D. Logan, 2011. "Economies Of Scale In The Household: Puzzles And Patterns From The American Past," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 1008-1028, October.
    2. Perali, Federico, 2008. "The second Engel law: Is it a paradox?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1353-1377, November.
    3. Karbasi, A. & Mohammadzadeh, S.H., 2018. "Estimating Household Expenditure Economies of Scale in Iran," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277152, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Echeverría, Lucía & Molina, José Alberto, 2022. "Exploring household heterogeneities of the Deaton-Paxson puzzle: Evidence for Argentina," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3622, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    5. Timothy J. Halliday, 2010. "Mismeasured Household Size and its Implications for the Identification of Economies of Scale," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(2), pages 246-262, April.
    6. Jayasinghe, Maneka & Chai, Andreas & Ratnasiri, Shyama & Smith, Christine, 2017. "The power of the vegetable patch: How home-grown food helps large rural households achieve economies of scale & escape poverty," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 62-74.
    7. Gibson, John, 2003. "Does Measurement Error Explain a Paradox About Household Size and Food Demand? Evidence from Variation in Household Survey Methods," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22198, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Donald Vitaliano, 2015. "A note on the ‘food paradox’: some contradictory evidence," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 1043-1053, December.
    9. Trevon D. Logan, 2008. "Are Engel Curve Estimates of CPI Bias Biased?," NBER Working Papers 13870, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Sanae Tashiro, 2009. "Differences in Food Preparation by Race and Ethnicity: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 161-180, December.
    11. Filho, Irineu de Carvalho & Chamon, Marcos, 2012. "The myth of post-reform income stagnation: Evidence from Brazil and Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 368-386.
    12. Menggen Chen & Yan Wang & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2020. "Measuring the spatial price differences in China with regional price parity methods," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 1103-1146, April.
    13. Ingvild Almås & Timothy K.M. Beatty & Thomas F. Crossley, 2018. "Lost in Translation: What do Engel Curves Tell us about the Cost of Living?," CESifo Working Paper Series 6886, CESifo.
    14. Almås, Ingvild & Johnsen, Åshild Auglænd, 2012. "The cost of living in China: Implications for inequality and poverty," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 21/2012, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    15. Brzozowski, Matthew & Crossley, Thomas F. & Winter, Joachim K., 2017. "Does survey recall error explain the Deaton–Paxson puzzle?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 18-20.
    16. Ingvild Almas & Ashild Johnsen, 2018. "The cost of a growth miracle - reassessing price and poverty trends in China," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 30, pages 239-264, October.
    17. Amita Majumder & Ranjan Ray & Sattwik Santra, 2016. "Global and Country Poverty Rates, Welfare Rankings of the Regions and Purchasing Power Parities: How Robust Are the Results?," Monash Economics Working Papers 11-16, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    18. Naeem Ahmed & Matthew Brzozowski & Thomas F. Crossley, 2005. "Measurement Errors in Recall Food Expenditure Data," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 133, McMaster University.
    19. Gibson, John & Stillman, Steven & Le, Trinh, 2008. "CPI bias and real living standards in Russia during the transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 140-160, August.
    20. Andrew Dabalen & Isis Gaddis & Nga Thi Viet Nguyen, 2020. "CPI Bias and its Implications for Poverty Reduction in Africa," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(1), pages 13-44, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21697. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.