The Link between Food Security and Life Satisfaction: Panel Data Analysis

Raufhon Salahodjaev and Ziroat Mirziyoyeva
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Ziroat Mirziyoyeva: Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, 39 Kari Niyazov Street, Tashkent 100000, Uzbekistan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-9

Abstract: The goal of this study is to explore the causal relationship between food (in)security and life satisfaction in a global setting. We explore this relationship using conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and instrumental variable two-stage least squares (IV 2SLS) method. Using data from 105 countries over the period 2012–2019, we found that food insecurity is significantly and negatively related to life satisfaction. The results are robust even after controlling for GDP growth, government size, quality of political and legal institutions. In addition, by adopting natural disaster data, we show that food insecurity has causal negative effect on life satisfaction. In particular, a one standard deviation increase in instrumented food insecurity decreases life satisfaction by 0.8 points (slightly less than one standard deviation). The results remain robust for a series of tests. Future studies should extend our findings by exploring the role of food security in other measures of quality of life.

Keywords: subjective well-being; food security; life satisfaction; natural disasters; causality; panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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