Journal of Population Association of Iran

Journal of Population Association of Iran

The Impact of Income on Malnutrition in Iran: Evidence from Urban Household Income and Expenditure Surveys between 2008 and 2016

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mitrasadat Hosseinpour 1
Mohammad Vesal 2
1 MSc in Economics, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
2 Assistant Professor of Economics, Graduate School Of Management And Economics, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jpai.2022.546567.1214
Abstract
Malnutrition is a big challenge in population and anti-poverty policy making. It could adversely affect productivity and lower income, which result in a food poverty trap. A diverse set of socio-economic factors affect malnutrition. Income growth could be an important factor in lowering malnutrition. However, a key requirement is that calorie and macronutrients demand also increase with income. In this paper we use parametric and non-parametric methods to estimate the income elasticity of calorie and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) for urban areas of Iran. We combine data from urban household income and expenditure surveys between 2008 and 2016 to calculate income, purchased calorie and macronutrients of households. The non-parametric results show that the income elasticity is significantly different from zero in low-income households but becomes insignificant in higher deciles. The parametric results show that the income elasticity of calorie and macronutrients are between 0.18 and 0.27. Thus, policies that enhance household income are effective in reducing malnutrition.
Keywords
Poverty
calorie poverty
malnutrition
development
population
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Journal of Population Association of Iran
Volume 16, Issue 31
March 2022
Pages 249-285

  • Receive Date 10 January 2022
  • Revise Date 30 January 2022
  • Accept Date 07 March 2022