The Role of Domestic Formal and Informal Institutions in Food Security: Research on the European Union Countries

Although food seems abundant in the European Union, challenges related to specific aspects of food security continue to exist and require ongoing attention. A country’s food security depends on various economic, social, environmental, and institutional factors, which are studied using several scientific research methodologies. The role of institutions in determining national success and failure has been increasingly emphasized in recent academic discourse. Our research makes a novel contribution to the literature on institutions and food security by integrating New Institutional Economics with food security metrics. It aims to examine the relationships between food security dimensions and country-specific institutional matrices in the twenty EU member states from 2012 to 2019. How strong were those relationships, and how did they differ between the new and old member states? Food security is proxied by the Global Food Security Index and its three pillars (economic accessibility, physical availability, and quality and safety). The institutional quality of a country is represented by the Worldwide Governance Indicators (regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption). Using the food security indices as the dependent variables, we apply multiple regression models to identify which institutions determined national food security over time. The study revealed that between 2012 and 2019, there was no evidence of sigma convergence or reduction in the dispersion of institutional quality (except for control of corruption) and overall food security within the EU20. The domestic institutions were generally statistically significantly positively related to the GFSI and its elements. The weakest correlations for the EU20 were those linking institutional variables with food quality and safety. The rule of law, incorporating such formal institutions as the quality of contract enforcement and property rights, positively affected food security within the EU20, with the mostgreatest impact on food quality, safety, and availability. The dependence of food security on national institutional factors was stronger in new member states from Central and Eastern Europe. The exploratory results shed some light on the role of institutions in shaping food security. However, further research is required to gain a more detailed understanding of this phenomenon. The research findings suggest that policymakers in the EU countries could enhance national institutions to promote food security and, consequently, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals more effectively.