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Fuelling Calorie Intake Decline: Household-Level Evidence from Rural India

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  • Basole, Amit
  • Basu, Deepankar

Abstract

In India, average calorie intake has declined even as real monthly expenditure has increased. Since cross sectional evidence suggests a positive relationship between the two variables, the trend emerges as a major puzzle. Using household-level data from four recent rounds of National Sample Survey data on consumption expenditure and a novel instrumental variable estimation strategy we find that rising expenditure on non-food items is one of the factors that has led to the calorie intake decline. We provide causal evidence for such a food budget squeeze in the case of one type of non-food item, viz. expenditures on cooking fuel.

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  • Basole, Amit & Basu, Deepankar, 2015. "Fuelling Calorie Intake Decline: Household-Level Evidence from Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 82-95.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:68:y:2015:i:c:p:82-95
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.11.020
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    1. Carly Nichols, 2017. "Millets, milk and maggi: contested processes of the nutrition transition in rural India," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(4), pages 871-885, December.
    2. Bhuyan, Biswabhusan & Sahoo, Bimal Kishore & Suar, Damodar, 2020. "Nutritional status, poverty, and relative deprivation among socio-economic and gender groups in India: Is the growth inclusive?," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    3. Jumrani, Jaya, 2023. "How responsive are nutrients in India? Some recent evidence," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    4. Jumrani, Jaya, 2017. "Inter-temporal and Spatial Changes in Nutritional Insecurity in India," Agricultural Economics Research Review, Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), vol. 30(2).
    5. Deepankar Basu & Debarshi Das, 2014. "Social Hierarchies and Public Distribution of Food in Rural India," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2014-05, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    6. Sirisha C. Naidu, 2023. "Circuits of Social Reproduction: Nature, Labor, and Capitalism," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 55(1), pages 93-111, March.
    7. Bhagowalia, Priya & Chandna, Arjita, 2016. "Food Subsidies and Nutritional Status: Evidence from ICRISAT Data," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235760, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Bhagowalia, Priya, 2018. "Complementarities in Education and Nutrition: Evidence using Cash Transfer Schemes in India," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274232, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Carpena, Fenella, 2019. "How do droughts impact household food consumption and nutritional intake? A study of rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 349-369.
    10. Yu, Xiaohua & Abler, David, 2016. "Matching food with mouths: A statistical explanation to the abnormal decline of per capita food consumption in rural China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 36-43.
    11. Kumar, Rishabh & Balasubramanian, Sriram & Loungani, Prakash, 2022. "Inequality and locational determinants of the distribution of living standards in India," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 59-69.
    12. 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.
    13. Himaz, Rozana, 2018. "Stunting later in childhood and outcomes as a young adult: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 344-357.
    14. K.S. Kavi Kumar & Brinda Viswanathan, 2016. "Kerosene Consumption in India: Welfare and Environmental Issues," Working Papers 2016-138, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    15. Basu, Deepankar & Das, Debarshi, 2015. "Service Sector Growth in India: A View from Households," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2015-10, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    16. Deepthi E. Kolady & Shivendra Kumar Srivastava & David Just & Jaspal Singh, 2021. "Food away from home and the reversal of the calorie intake decline in India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(2), pages 369-384, April.
    17. Dalia Fadly & Francisco Fontes & Miet Maertens, 2023. "Fuel for food: Access to clean cooking fuel and food security in India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(2), pages 301-321, April.
    18. 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.
    19. Nidhi Kaicker & Vani Kulkarni & Raghav Gaiha, 2018. "Is variety the spice of life? India’s nutrition experience," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 282018, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    20. Fry, Jane M. & Farrell, Lisa & Temple, Jeromey B., 2023. "Energy poverty and food insecurity: Is there an energy or food trade-off among low-income Australians?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    21. Alessandra Costagliola, 2021. "Labor Participation and Gender Inequalities in India: Traditional Gender Norms in India and the Decline in the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR)," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(3), pages 531-542, September.
    22. Nwanakwere, Justine & Ogwumike, Fidelis, 2019. "Non-Food Poverty Differential Across Urban/Rural and Geo-political Zones in Nigeria," MPRA Paper 101457, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 29 Jun 2020.
    23. Bhagowalia, Priya, 2020. "Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Health and Nutrition," MPRA Paper 97972, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Amit Basole & Deepankar Basu, 2015. "Non-Food Expenditures and Consumption Inequality in India," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2015-06, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    25. Snehashish Bhattacharya & Surbhi Kesar, 2020. "Precarity and Development: Production and Labor Processes in the Informal Economy in India," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 387-408, September.

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