IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v72y2015icp308-325.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poverty–Food Security Nexus: Evidence from a Survey of Urban Slum Dwellers in Kolkata

Author

Listed:
  • Maitra, Chandana
  • Rao, D.S. Prasada

Abstract

We explore the poverty–food security nexus, using an experience-based indicator of food security constructed using a cross-section sample of slum households in Kolkata, within the framework of a simultaneous ordered probit model. We find, a poor household is also likely to be food insecure. Additionally education, gender, and household composition are major drivers of food insecurity among low-income urban households, with the policy implication that anti-poverty policies should be successful in eliminating household food insecurity, however, they need to be complemented with human capital investment and gender empowerment to be most effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Maitra, Chandana & Rao, D.S. Prasada, 2015. "Poverty–Food Security Nexus: Evidence from a Survey of Urban Slum Dwellers in Kolkata," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 308-325.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:72:y:2015:i:c:p:308-325
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15000650
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ravallion, Martin, 2002. "On the urbanization of poverty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 435-442, August.
    2. Santos, Florence & Fletschner, Diana & Savath, Vivien & Peterman, Amber, 2014. "Can Government-Allocated Land Contribute to Food Security? Intrahousehold Analysis of West Bengal’s Microplot Allocation Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 860-872.
    3. John Strauss & Duncan Thomas, 1998. "Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 766-817, June.
    4. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, 1999. "What Does Feminization of Poverty Mean? It Isn't Just Lack of Income," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 99-103.
    5. Masiero, Silvia, 2015. "Redesigning the Indian Food Security System through E-Governance: The Case of Kerala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 126-137.
    6. Barrett, Christopher B., 2002. "Food security and food assistance programs," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 40, pages 2103-2190, Elsevier.
    7. Panagariya, Arvind, 2011. "India: The Emerging Giant," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199751563.
    8. Rashid, Dewan Arif & Smith, Lisa C. & Rahman, Tauhidur, 2011. "Determinants of Dietary Quality: Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 2221-2231.
    9. Stefan Boes & Rainer Winkelmann, 2006. "Ordered Response Models," Springer Books, in: Olaf Hübler & Jachim Frohn (ed.), Modern Econometric Analysis, chapter 12, pages 167-181, Springer.
    10. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    11. M. H. Suryanarayana & Dimitri Silva, 2007. "Is Targeting the Poor a Penalty on the Food Insecure? Poverty and Food Insecurity in India," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 89-107.
    12. Christopher J. Bennett & Shabana Mitra, 2013. "Multidimensional Poverty: Measurement, Estimation, and Inference," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 57-83, January.
    13. Fuwa, Nobuhiko, 2000. "The Poverty and Heterogeneity Among Female-Headed Households Revisited: The Case of Panama," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 1515-1542, August.
    14. Mallick, Debdulal & Rafi, Mohammad, 2010. "Are Female-Headed Households More Food Insecure? Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 593-605, April.
    15. repec:cup:apsrev:v:98:y:2004:i:01:p:191-207_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Chandana Maitra & Prasada Rao, 2014. "An Empirical Investigation into Measurement and Determinants of Food Security in Slums of Kolkata," Discussion Papers Series 531, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    17. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-959, July.
    18. Garrett, James L. & Ruel, Marie T., 1999. "Are determinants of rural and urban food security and nutritional status different?," FCND discussion papers 65, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Raghav Gaiha & Raghbendra Jha & Vani S. Kulkarni, 2010. "Prices, Expenditure and Nutrition in India," ASARC Working Papers 2010-15, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    20. Duncan McVicar & Brian McKee, 2002. "Part–Time Work During Post–Compulsory Education And Examination Performance: Help Or Hindrance?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 49(4), pages 393-406, September.
    21. David Armstrong & Duncan McVicar, 2000. "Value added in further education and vocational training in Northern Ireland," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(13), pages 1727-1736.
    22. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2007. "The Economic Lives of the Poor," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 141-168, Winter.
    23. Siddharth Agarwal & Vani Sethi & Palak Gupta & Meenakshi Jha & Ayushi Agnihotri & Mark Nord, 2009. "Experiential household food insecurity in an urban underserved slum of North India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 1(3), pages 239-250, September.
    24. AfDB AfDB, . "Improving Statistics for Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development - An Action Plan for Africa (2011–2015) - Bulletin N°3," Global Strategy Implementation Bulletin, African Development Bank, number 368.
    25. Lanjouw, Peter & Ravallion, Martin, 1995. "Poverty and Household Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(433), pages 1415-1434, November.
    26. Chandana Maitra, 2014. "Going Beyond Calories – Looking At Experiential Food Insecurity In Urban Slum Households In Kolkata," Discussion Papers Series 523, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    27. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter, 2021. "Women's empowerment in agriculture: What role for food security in Bangladesh?," IFPRI book chapters, in: Securing food for all in Bangladesh, chapter 14, pages 483-548, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    28. Kakwani, Nanak, 1989. "On Measuring Undernutrition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(3), pages 528-552, July.
    29. 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.
    30. R. Radhakrishna & C. Ravi, 1992. "Effects of Growth, Relative Price and Preferences on Food and Nutrition," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 27, pages 303-323.
    31. Srinivasan, T. N., 1981. "Malnutrition : Some measurement and policy issues," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-19, February.
    32. Ruel, Marie T. & Haddad, Lawrence & Garrett, James L., 1999. "Some Urban Facts of Life: Implications for Research and Policy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1917-1938, November.
    33. Uzma Iram & Muhammad S. Butt, 2004. "Determinants of household food security: An empirical analysis for Pakistan," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 31(8), pages 753-766, July.
    34. Garrett, James L. & Ruel, Marie T., 1999. "Are Determinants of Rural and Urban Food Security and Nutritional Status Different? Some Insights from Mozambique," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1955-1975, November.
    35. Santos, Florence & Fletschner, Diana & Savath, Vivien & Peterman, Amber, 2013. "Can government-allocated land contribute to food security? Intrahousehold analysis of West Bengal’s microplot allocation program:," IFPRI discussion papers 1310, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    36. Bouis, Howarth E., 1994. "The effect of income on demand for food in poor countries: Are our food consumption databases giving us reliable estimates?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 199-226, June.
    37. Paul A. Higgins & Harold Alderman, 1997. "Labor and Women's Nutrition: The Impact of Work Effort and Fertility on Nutritional Status in Ghana," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 577-595.
    38. Jha, Raghbendra & Gaiha, Raghav & Pandey, Manoj K. & Kaicker, Nidhi, 2013. "Food subsidy, income transfer and the poor: A comparative analysis of the public distribution system in India's states," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 887-908.
    39. Nancy J. Burnett, 1997. "Gender Economics Courses in Liberal Arts Colleges," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 369-376, December.
    40. Faridi, Rushad & Wadood, Syed Naimul, 2010. "An Econometric Assessment of Household Food Security in Bangladesh," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 33(3), pages 97-111, September.
    41. Strauss, John & Thomas, Duncan, 1995. "Human resources: Empirical modeling of household and family decisions," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 1883-2023, Elsevier.
    42. Wilde, Joachim, 2000. "Identification of multiple equation probit models with endogenous dummy regressors," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 309-312, December.
    43. Headey, Derek D. & Ecker, Olivier, 2012. "Improving the measurement of food security:," IFPRI discussion papers 1225, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    44. Floro, Maria Sagrario & Bali Swain, Ranjula, 2013. "Food Security, Gender, and Occupational Choice among Urban Low-Income Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 89-99.
    45. Rose, Donald & Gunderson, Craig & Oliveira, Victor, 1998. "Socio-Economic Determinants of Food Insecurity in the United States: Evidence from the SIPP and CSFII Datasets," Technical Bulletins 184377, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    46. Kassie, Menale & Ndiritu, Simon Wagura & Stage, Jesper, 2014. "What Determines Gender Inequality in Household Food Security in Kenya? Application of Exogenous Switching Treatment Regression," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 153-171.
    47. David Roodman, 2009. "Mixed-process models with cmp," DC09 Stata Conference 11, Stata Users Group.
    48. Maxwell, Daniel, 1999. "The Political Economy of Urban Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1939-1953, November.
    49. Rose, Donald & Gundersen, Craig & Oliveira, Victor, 1998. "Socio-Economic Determinants of Food Insecurity in the United States: Evidence from the SIPP and CSFII Datasets," Technical Bulletins 156812, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    50. Haddad, Lawrence & Kennedy, Eileen & Sullivan, Joan, 1994. "Choice of indicators for food security and nutrition monitoring," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 329-343, June.
    51. David Roodman, 2009. "Estimating Fully Observed Recursive Mixed-Process Models with cmp," Working Papers 168, Center for Global Development.
    52. S. Mukherji, 2002. "Urbanization and migration in India: a different scene," Chapters, in: H. S. Geyer (ed.), International Handbook of Urban Systems, chapter 20, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    53. Angus Deaton & Valerie Kozel, 2005. "Data and Dogma: The Great Indian Poverty Debate," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 20(2), pages 177-199.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. repec:qld:uq2004:508 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Chandana Maitra & Prasada Rao, 2014. "An Empirical Investigation into Measurement and Determinants of Food Security in Slums of Kolkata," Discussion Papers Series 531, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    3. Chandana Maitra & Sriram Shankar & D.S. Prasada Rao, 2016. "Income Poor or Calorie Poor? Who should get the Subsidy?," Discussion Papers Series 564, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    4. Floro, Maria Sagrario & Bali Swain, Ranjula, 2013. "Food Security, Gender, and Occupational Choice among Urban Low-Income Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 89-99.
    5. Vicka Kharisma & Naoya Abe, 2020. "Food Insecurity and Associated Socioeconomic Factors: Application of Rasch and Binary Logistic Models with Household Survey Data in Three Megacities in Indonesia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 655-679, April.
    6. Renuka Mahadevan & Vincent Hoang, 2016. "Is There a Link Between Poverty and Food Security?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 179-199, August.
    7. Muhammad Masood Azeem & Amin W. Mugera & Steven Schilizzi & Kadambot H. M. Siddique, 2017. "An Assessment of Vulnerability to Poverty in Punjab, Pakistan: Subjective Choices of Poverty Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 117-152, October.
    8. Asadul Islam & Chandana Maitra & Debayan Pakrashi & Russell Smyth, 2016. "Microcredit Programme Participation and Household Food Security in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 448-470, June.
    9. Chandana Maitra, 2014. "Going Beyond Calories – Looking At Experiential Food Insecurity In Urban Slum Households In Kolkata," Discussion Papers Series 523, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    10. Greenwell C MATCHAYA & Pius CHILONDA, 2012. "Estimating Effects Of Constraints On Food Security In Malawi: Policy Lessons From Regressions Quantiles," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 12(2).
    11. William Nkomoki & Miroslava Bavorová & Jan Banout, 2019. "Factors Associated with Household Food Security in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, May.
    12. C.W. Kalansooriya & W. G. V. Gunasekara & P. G. S. A. Jayarathne, 2020. "Food Security in Urban Households: The Role of Women in an Asian Context," Economy, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 7(1), pages 11-18.
    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. Mallick, Debdulal & Rafi, Mohammad, 2010. "Are Female-Headed Households More Food Insecure? Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 593-605, April.
    15. Zahid Asghar & Muhammad Ahmad, 2015. "Socio-Economic Determinants of Household Food Insecurity in Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 3(1), pages 6-18, January.
    16. 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).
    17. Hossain, Marup & Mullally, Conner & Asadullah, M Niaz, 2016. "Measuring household food security in a low income country: A comparative analysis of self-reported and objective indicators," 2016 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas 230101, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    18. Azeem, Muhammad Masood & Mugera, Amin W. & Schilizzi, Steven, 2016. "Living on the edge: Household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab, Pakistan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Sushanta K. Mallick, 2014. "Disentangling the Poverty Effects of Sectoral Output, Prices, and Policies in India," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 773-801, December.
    20. Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2003. "Food Aid and Child Nutrition in Rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1309-1324, July.
    21. Geoffrey Lancaster & Pushkar Maitra & Ranjan Ray, 2006. "Gender Bias in Nutrient Intake," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 7(2), pages 255-299, September.

    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:eee:wdevel:v:72:y:2015:i:c:p:308-325. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.