IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp1448.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Impact of Income Growth and Economic Reform on Nutrition Intake in Urban China: 1986-2000

Author

Listed:
  • Meng, Xin

    (Australian National University)

  • Gong, Xiaodong

    (NATSEM, University of Canberra)

  • Wang, Youjuan

    (Chinese State Statistical Bureau)

Abstract

Although urban China has experienced a rapid income growth over the last twenty years, nutrition intake for the low income group declined in the 1990s. Does this imply a zero or negative income elasticity for the low income group? This paper examines this issue using large representative sample of repeated cross-sectional data for the period 1986-2000. It is found that income elasticities of calorie consumption for urban households are far from zero, and the lower the income level the higher the income elasticity. The main reason for the reduction in calorie consumption for the low income group in the early 1990s was a sharp increase in food price. In addition, in the mid to late 1990s large scale social welfare reform increased households’ need to pay for education, medical, housing expenses and the need to save for future consumption and income uncertainty. These factors seem to have played an important role in suppressing nutrition consumption of the low income group during this period.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng, Xin & Gong, Xiaodong & Wang, Youjuan, 2004. "Impact of Income Growth and Economic Reform on Nutrition Intake in Urban China: 1986-2000," IZA Discussion Papers 1448, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1448
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp1448.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Banks & Paul Johnson, 1994. "Equivalence scales and public policy," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Subramanian, Shankar & Deaton, Angus, 1996. "The Demand for Food and Calories," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 133-162, February.
    3. Carroll, Christopher D. & Weil, David N., 1994. "Saving and growth: a reinterpretation," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 133-192, June.
    4. Meng, Xin, 2003. "Unemployment, consumption smoothing, and precautionary saving in urban China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 465-485, September.
    5. Yatchew, A., 1997. "An elementary estimator of the partial linear model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 135-143, December.
    6. Christopher D. Carroll, 1994. "How does Future Income Affect Current Consumption?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 109(1), pages 111-147.
    7. John Giles & Albert Park & Fang Cai, 2003. "How has Economic Restructuring Affected China???s Urban Workers?," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-628, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    8. Coulter, Fiona A E & Cowell, Frank A & Jenkins, Stephen P, 1992. "Equivalence Scale Relativities and the Extent of Inequality and Poverty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(414), pages 1067-1082, September.
    9. McClements, L. D., 1977. "Equivalence scales for children," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 191-210, October.
    10. Strauss, J. & Thonas, D., 1990. "The Shape Of The Calorie-Expenditure Curve," Papers 595, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
    11. Alok Bhargava, 2006. "Estimating Short and Long Run Income Elasticities of Foods and Nutrients for Rural South India," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Econometrics, Statistics And Computational Approaches In Food And Health Sciences, chapter 5, pages 81-98, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Skoufias, Emmanuel, 2003. "Is the Calorie-Income Elasticity Sensitive to Price Changes? Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1291-1307, July.
    13. Ravallion, Martin, 1990. "Income Effects on Undernutrition," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(3), pages 489-515, April.
    14. Behrman, Jere R & Deolalikar, Anil B, 1987. "Will Developing Country Nutrition Improve with Income? A Case Study for Rural South India," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(3), pages 492-507, June.
    15. Adonis Yatchew, 1998. "Nonparametric Regression Techniques in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 669-721, 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. Zhongwei Zhao, 2006. "Income Inequality, Unequal Health Care Access, and Mortality in China," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(3), pages 461-483, September.
    2. Honge Gong & Andrew Leigh & Xin Meng, 2012. "Intergenerational Income Mobility In Urban China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 58(3), pages 481-503, September.
    3. Xiaohua Li & Yaohui Zhao & Lili Lu, 2008. "Effects of Education on Earnings Inequality in Urban China: 1988-2003," Working Papers PMMA 2008-09, PEP-PMMA.
    4. Phiri, Andrew & Dube, Wisdom, 2014. "Nutrition and economic growth in South Africa: A momentum threshold autoregressive (MTAR) approach," MPRA Paper 52950, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Xin Meng & Xiaodong Gong & Youjuan Wang, 2009. "Impact of Income Growth and Economic Reform on Nutrition Availability in Urban China: 1986-2000," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 261-295, January.
    2. Tian, Xu & Yu, Xiaohua, 2015. "Using semiparametric models to study nutrition improvement and dietary change with different indices: The case of China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 67-81.
    3. Jumrani, Jaya, 2023. "How responsive are nutrients in India? Some recent evidence," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    4. Tankari, Mahamadou R., 2014. "L’élasticité calorie-revenu est-elle faible au Niger ?," Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, Editions NecPlus, vol. 95(04), pages 473-491, December.
    5. Nilanjana Roy, 2001. "A semiparametric analysis of calorie response to income change across income groups and gender," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 93-109.
    6. Emmanuel Skoufias & Vincenzo Di Maro & Teresa González‐Cossío & Sonia Rodríguez Ramírez, 2009. "Nutrient consumption and household income in rural Mexico," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(6), pages 657-675, November.
    7. Salois, Matthew & Tiffin, Richard & Balcombe, Kelvin, 2010. "Calorie and Nutrient Consumption as a Function of Income: A Cross-Country Analysis," MPRA Paper 24726, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Hamidou Jawara & Rainer Thiele, 2021. "The Nutrient-Income Elasticity in Ultra-Poor Households: Evidence from Kenya," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(6), pages 1795-1819, December.
    9. Vecchi, Giovanni & Coppola, Michela, 2006. "Nutrition and growth in Italy, 1861-1911: What macroeconomic data hide," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 438-464, July.
    10. Mohammad Ali & Kira M. Villa & Janak Joshi, 2018. "Health and hunger: nutrient response to income depending on caloric availability in Nepal," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(5), pages 611-621, September.
    11. Basole, Amit & Basu, Deepankar, 2015. "Fuelling Calorie Intake Decline: Household-Level Evidence from Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 82-95.
    12. P. J. Dawson & A. I. Sanjuan, 2011. "Calorie consumption and income: panel cointegration and causality evidence in developing countries," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(15), pages 1455-1461.
    13. 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.
    14. Kaushal, Neeraj & Muchomba, Felix M., 2015. "How Consumer Price Subsidies affect Nutrition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 25-42.
    15. Yu, Bingxin, 2012. "From Plot to Plate: Linking Agricultural Productivity and Human Nutrition in Bangladesh," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126803, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. SK Mishra & JW Lyngskor, 2005. "Nutritional Aspects of Poverty among Casual Labourer Households in Shillong (India)," Others 0505011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. David Sahn & Ari Gerstle, 2004. "Child allowances and allocative decisions in Romanian households," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(14), pages 1513-1521.
    18. Adebayo B. Aromolaran, 2010. "Does increase in women's income relative to men's income increase food calorie intake in poor households? Evidence from Nigeria," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(3‐4), pages 239-249, May.
    19. P. J. Dawson, 1997. "The demand for calories in developing countries," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 361-369.
    20. Emmanuel Skoufias & Vincenzo Di Maro & Teresa Gonzalez-Cossio & Sonia Rodriguez Ramirez, 2011. "Food quality, calories and household income," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(28), pages 4331-4342.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    inequality; income growth; poverty; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    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:iza:izadps:dp1448. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.