An empirical study of the economic determinants of food security
Abstract (summary)
This study investigates the relationship between food security and economic factors. Using the seemingly unrelated regression technique, the paper uses an unbalanced panel of 43 countries between 1992 to2008 to empirically analyze the relationship between indicators of food security (food gaps and food-insecure populations) as dependent variables and foreign trade, foreign aid, and financial development as explanatory variables. In two sets of regressions involving food security equations, openness to foreign trade (defined as the sum of imports and exports in gross domestic product), foreign aid, political stability and geographic dummies were found to be correlated with food security measures. Data are obtained from various sources including the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Penn World Tables. The paper concludes with policy recommendations specifically related to how the World Trade Organization can ensure a level playing ground for international trade among poor and rich countries so that developing countries can reap benefits from foreign trade in order to improve their food security situation.
Food security is defined as the availability of sufficient and affordable food to all peoples at all times needed for a healthy and productive lifestyle. Measures of food security range from the amount of food needed to reach a predetermined daily calorie requirement per person per day, to child and adult malnutrition statistics, to the population of the hungry. However, important economic factors alone, such as foreign trade, foreign aid and financial development, are not all conclusive in explaining food security. The study therefore further explores the role of political stability and physical agricultural infrastructure, such as irrigated area in total arable land, in food security outcomes across time and space.
Indexing (details)
Agricultural economics;
Economics
0503: Agricultural economics
0511: Economic theory