IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/cmpart/334773.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effects of outdated data and outliers on Kenya's 2019 Global Food Security Index score and rank

Author

Listed:
  • Atieno, Prisca

Abstract

While composite indicators are considered robust in measuring food security, outdated data and outliers challenge their reliability. Outdated data can occur when national databases are not frequently updated while outliers are extremely small or large values in a study. Outdated data could be referred to as missing current data in composite indicators used for annual benchmarking exercises, where data must be frequently updated. Besides hindering useful information within an index, outdated data could also result in outliers in a database, especially when the outdated or missing current data are imputed by estimation. Studies that have assessed the robustness of composite indicators highlight that outdated data and outliers could bias results, thereby hindering an index's reliability. However, depending on the methods used when constructing a composite indicator, some methods can be considered robust even with the presence of outliers in a data point. Outdated national data could hinder countries from tracking the progress of international, national or regional commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, while outliers could act as an unintended benchmark. This study assessed the impacts of outdated data and outliers on Kenya's scores and rankings in the Global Food Security Index (GFSI). The study objective was achieved by assessing Kenya's performance in the 2019 GFSI result before and after removing outliers from the GFSI data points and updating Kenya's outdated indicators. Winsorisation was used to remove the outliers from the GFSI database, while the Spearman correlation and Paired t-tests were used to test for the statistical significance of the outdated data and outliers. The study revealed that while Kenya's 2019 GFSI database did not have outliers, outliers in other countries' data points impacted Kenya's score and rank. For example, the winsorisation of outliers for other countries reduced Kenya's 2019 overall GFSI score by six points. Moreover, thirteen indicators in Kenya's 2019 GFSI database were found to be outdated. However, despite Kenya's score improving from updating the outdated data, the impact was minimal to increase the GFSI's mean score for all countries. That is, updating Kenya's outdated indicators was found not to differ significantly from zero. The study concluded that Kenya's score and rank in the 2019 GFSI were affected by the outdated data in Kenya's database and outliers in other countries' data. The study, therefore, recommended that Kenya should update its national database and allow open access to the national data while the GFSI should identify and remove outliers from the data points.

Suggested Citation

  • Atieno, Prisca, 2021. "The effects of outdated data and outliers on Kenya's 2019 Global Food Security Index score and rank," Research Theses 334773, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:cmpart:334773
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.334773
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/334773/files/Atieno.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.334773?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maricic, Milica & Bulajic, Milica & Dobrota, Marina & Jeremic, Veljko, 2016. "Redesigning The Global Food Security Index: A Multivariate Composite I-Distance Indicator Approach," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Stephen Devereux, 2009. "Why does famine persist in Africa?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 1(1), pages 25-35, February.
    3. Pangaribowo, Evita Hanie & Gerber, Nicolas & Torero, Maximo, 2013. "Food and Nutrition Security Indicators: A Review," Working Papers 147911, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    4. Gabriel Demombynes & Jane Kiringai, 2011. "The Drought and Food Crisis in the Horn of Africa : Impacts and Proposed Policy Responses for Kenya," World Bank Publications - Reports 10073, The World Bank Group.
    5. Yerramareddy, Indira & Babu, Suresh Chandra, 2018. "Knowledge and data: Achieving food and nutrition security through open access," IFPRI book chapters, in: 2018 Global food policy report, chapter 6, pages 46-53, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Fan, Shenggen & Pandya-Lorch, Rajul & Yosef, Sivan (ed.), 2014. "Resilience for food and nutrition security," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-678-7, October.
    7. Carlo Cafiero, 2013. "What do we Really Know about Food Security?," NBER Working Papers 18861, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Chen, Po-Chi & Yu, Ming-Miin & Shih, Jou-Chen & Chang, Ching-Cheng & Hsu, Shih-Hsun, 2019. "A reassessment of the Global Food Security Index by using a hierarchical data envelopment analysis approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(2), pages 687-698.
    9. de Haen, Hartwig & Klasen, Stephan & Qaim, Matin, 2011. "What do we really know? Metrics for food insecurity and undernutrition," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 760-769.
    10. Fan, Shenggen & Pandya-Lorch, Rajul & Yosef, Sivan, 2014. "Introduction [In Resilience for food and nutrition security]," IFPRI book chapters, in: Fan, Shenggen & Pandya-Lorch, Rajul & Yosef, Sivan (ed.), 2013 Global Food Policy Report, chapter 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Caccavale, Oscar Maria & Giuffrida, Valerio, 2020. "The Proteus composite index: Towards a better metric for global food security," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Nadia Solaro & Alessandro Barbiero & Giancarlo Manzi & Pier Alda Ferrari, 2017. "A sequential distance-based approach for imputing missing data: Forward Imputation," Advances in Data Analysis and Classification, Springer;German Classification Society - Gesellschaft für Klassifikation (GfKl);Japanese Classification Society (JCS);Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society (CLADAG);International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS), vol. 11(2), pages 395-414, June.
    13. Ochieng, Justus & Kirimi, Lilian & Mathenge, Mary, 2016. "Effects of Climate Variability and Change on Agricultural Production: The Case of Small-Scale Farmers in Kenya," Working Papers 229711, Egerton University, Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development.
    14. Milica Maricic & Jose A. Egea & Veljko Jeremic, 2019. "A Hybrid Enhanced Scatter Search—Composite I-Distance Indicator (eSS-CIDI) Optimization Approach for Determining Weights Within Composite Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 497-537, July.
    15. von Braun, Joachim & Ahmed, Akhter & Asenso-Okyere, Kwadwo & Fan, Shenggen & Gulati, Ashok & Hoddinott, John & Pandya-Lorch, Rajul & Rosegrant, Mark W. & Ruel, Marie & Torero, Maximo & van Rheenen, Te, 2008. "High food prices: The what, who, and how of proposed policy actions [In Chinese]," Policy briefs 1A CH, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Michaël GOUJON & Mathilde CLOSSET & Sosso FEINDOUNO, 2014. "Human Assets Index Retrospective series: 2013 update," Working Papers P110, FERDI.
    17. Michael Freudenberg, 2003. "Composite Indicators of Country Performance: A Critical Assessment," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2003/16, OECD Publishing.
    18. Meital Izraelov & Jacques Silber, 2019. "An assessment of the global food security index," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(5), pages 1135-1152, October.
    19. von Braun, Joachim & Ahmed, Akhter & Asenso-Okyere, Kwadwo & Fan, Shenggen & Gulati, Ashok & Hoddinott, John & Pandya-Lorch, Rajul & Rosegrant, Mark W. & Ruel, Marie & Torero, Maximo & van Rheenen, Te, 2008. "High food prices: The what, who, and how of proposed policy actions," Policy briefs 1A, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Douglas M. Hawkins, 1980. "Critical Values for Identifying Outliers," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 29(1), pages 95-96, March.
    21. Demombynes, Gabriel & Kiringai, Jane, 2011. "The Drought and Food Crisis in the Horn of Africa: Impacts and Proposed Policy Responses for Kenya," World Bank - Economic Premise, The World Bank, issue 71, pages 1-4, November.
    22. Colin Poulton & Karuti Kanyinga, 2014. "The Politics of Revitalising Agriculture in Kenya," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 32(s2), pages 151-172, September.
    23. Issaka Dialga & Le Thi Hang Giang, 2017. "Highlighting Methodological Limitations in the Steps of Composite Indicators Construction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 441-465, March.
    24. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2006. "Governance matters V: aggregate and individual governance indicators for 1996 - 2005," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4012, The World Bank.
    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. Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano, 2014. "On the composite indicators for food security: Decisions matter!," MPRA Paper 58955, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Eva Matejková & Mária Májek & Artan Qineti & Zlata Sojková, 2024. "Comparative analysis of European Union countries based on selected aspects of food security," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 70(6), pages 265-278.
    3. Valiant O Odhiambo & Sheryl L Hendriks & Eness P Mutsvangwa-Sammie, 2021. "The effect of an objective weighting of the global food security index’s natural resources and resilience component on country scores and ranking," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1343-1357, December.
    4. Meital Izraelov & Jacques Silber, 2019. "An assessment of the global food security index," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(5), pages 1135-1152, October.
    5. Benjamin Kipkemboi Kogo & Lalit Kumar & Richard Koech, 2021. "Climate change and variability in Kenya: a review of impacts on agriculture and food security," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 23-43, January.
    6. Jozef Palkovič, 2024. "Unravelling the European food security puzzle: exploring determinants and constructing a comprehensive measure," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(4), pages 847-871, December.
    7. Caccavale, Oscar Maria & Giuffrida, Valerio, 2020. "The Proteus composite index: Towards a better metric for global food security," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    8. Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano, 2016. "Methodological challenges in building composite indexes: Linking theory to practice," MPRA Paper 73276, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Andrew Allee & Lee R. Lynd & Vikrant Vaze, 2021. "Cross-national analysis of food security drivers: comparing results based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale and Global Food Security Index," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1245-1261, October.
    10. Kevin D Hall & Juen Guo & Michael Dore & Carson C Chow, 2009. "The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(11), pages 1-6, November.
    11. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Laura Deotti & Maria Sassi, "undated". "Food Price Volatility over the Last Decade in Niger and Malawi: Extent, Sources and Impact on Child Malnutrition," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-002, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    12. Rosa, Franco & Vasciaveo, Michela & Weaver, Robert D., 2014. "Agricultural and oil commodities: price transmission and market integration between US and Italy," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 3(2), pages 1-25, August.
    13. Zaremba, Adam & Bianchi, Robert J. & Mikutowski, Mateusz, 2021. "Long-run reversal in commodity returns: Insights from seven centuries of evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    14. Bühler, Dorothee & Hartje, Rebecca & Ulrike Grote, 2017. "Can household food security predict individual undernutrition? Evidence from Cambodia and Lao PDR," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-594, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    15. von Braun, Joachim, 2008. "Food and financial crises: Implications for agriculture and the poor," Food policy reports 20, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Negash, Martha & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2013. "Biofuels and food security: Micro-evidence from Ethiopia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 963-976.
    17. repec:lic:licosd:35614 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Sandoval, Luis & Carpio, Carlos E, 2017. "Measuring Prevalence, Profiling and Evaluating the Potential of Policy Impacts using Two Food Security Indicators in Guatemala," 2017 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2017, Mobile, Alabama 252715, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    19. Derek Headey & Shenggen Fan, 2008. "Anatomy of a crisis: the causes and consequences of surging food prices," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(s1), pages 375-391, November.
    20. Riera, Olivia & Swinnen, Johan, 2016. "Household level spillover effects from biofuels: Evidence from castor in Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 55-65.
    21. Mourão, Paulo, 2007. "Towards a Fiscal Illusion Index," MPRA Paper 9760, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 28 Jul 2008.

    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:ags:cmpart:334773. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agriculturaleconomics.net .

    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.