Intra-Household Inequality in Food Consumption and Diets in the Philippines

Most welfare measures, including food expenditure and diet quality, are based on householdaggregates and assume an equal or equitable distribution of resources among members within the household. But it isunlikely that resources are distributed equally or equitably within most households. As such, individual food expenditureand diet quality measures, rather than household aggregations, may paint a more accurate picture ofintra-household welfare. This paper assesses the disparity between household and individual measurement of foodexpenditure and diet quality in the Philippines using data from 2013. It finds evidence of intra-household inequalityfor food expenditure and for diet quality. In particular, for the consumption of starchy staples, meat, fish, andlegumes, women and children do not meet the recommended consumption, even within households that, in aggregate, areable to meet the recommended consumption. However, intra-household inequality is not observed undercircumstances in which no one in the household meets recommended consumption, as is the case for many foodcategories in our analysis.