Food expenditure of the poorest deciles: expected vulnerability and counterintuitive indulgence?

Jan-Jan Soon, Azira Abdul Adzis, Shri Dewi Applanaidu and Norhaslinda Zainal Abidin

Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 2024, vol. 29, issue 3, 1239-1256

Abstract: Key findings from our estimation models show that although the poorest households are vulnerable to income and food price shocks, our results also reveal an anomaly: given an increase in income and in food price, the poorest households seem to indulge in non-essential food expenditure, which is counterintuitive. Being the poorest typically conjures images of needing more food, not more food choices. We explain our findings within an intertwined theoretical underpinning, providing empirical verifications to two landmark hypotheses that bridge the economic-psychological frontier. We merge two relatively recent and nationally representative Malaysian household expenditure and price datasets. Our paper is perhaps the first work examining the poorest among poor households in a developing country from an economic-psychological angle, providing insights for more nuanced policy prescriptions. We believe our findings unveil aspects of food and poverty in Malaysia that have yet to be given detailed treatment so far.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13547860.2023.2166718 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:rjapxx:v:29:y:2024:i:3:p:1239-1256

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rjap20

DOI: 10.1080/13547860.2023.2166718

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy is currently edited by Leong Liew

More articles in Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().