Calorie thresholds and undernutrition in India

Nidhi Kaicker and Raghav Gaiha

Journal of Policy Modeling, 2013, vol. 35, issue 2, 271-288

Abstract: Using fixed calorie norms to measure undernutrition is suspect due to familiar reasons. Recent studies have proposed an approach that relies on a calorie share of staples threshold. Our analysis with Indian household data shows that such a measure is of limited interest and potentially misleading because it confines variation in calorie share to a measure of wealth. Since even the poor substitute in response to changes in food prices, calorie and income thresholds change, and, consequently, the estimates of undernourished. Thus, both the predictive accuracy of this measure and its descriptive richness leave a lot to be desired. The policy implications of our critique are significant, as not just livelihood expansion but also food price stabilisation are likely to mitigate undernutrition.

Keywords: Calories; Staples; Undernutrition; Wealth; Food prices; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I12 I15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:35:y:2013:i:2:p:271-288

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2012.04.002

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