A novel approach to assessing food insecurity for small geographic areas using household living budgets

Cesar Montalvo (), Vicki Lancaster, Joseph J. Salvo and Stephanie Shipp
Additional contact information
Cesar Montalvo: University of Virginia
Vicki Lancaster: University of Virginia
Joseph J. Salvo: National Conference on Citizenship
Stephanie Shipp: Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, 2024, vol. 16, issue 6, No 14, 1569-1586

Abstract: Abstract The USDA Economic Research Service has monitored food insecurity at national and state levels since 1995 using the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement. But if a food insecurity measure is to inform action and target interventions, it must be constructed for smaller geographic levels that consider geographic price differences. This article constructs a novel measure of food insecurity using an alternative approach based on financial needs of households, known as the household living budget (HLB). The HLB is defined as the income required to satisfy a household's essential needs, enabling it to maintain a modest yet sufficient standard of living while covering federal and state income taxes. The HLB is constructed at the census tract level and incorporates three key determinants of food insecurity: household size and composition, household income, and food costs. We demonstrate how the HLB along with publicly available data can be used to construct a food insecurity measure using a residual income approach to assess if households are able to afford paying for food expenditures and assess the qualification thresholds of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Food insecurity estimates are obtained for households in Washington, D.C. and benchmarked to regional results provided by a survey sponsored by the Capital Area Foodbank.

Keywords: Food Insecurity; Residual income; SNAP; Small area estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-024-01494-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:16:y:2024:i:6:d:10.1007_s12571-024-01494-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ulture/journal/12571

DOI: 10.1007/s12571-024-01494-5

Access Statistics for this article

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food is currently edited by R.N. Strange

More articles in Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food from Springer, The International Society for Plant Pathology
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().