Analyzing nutritional impacts of policies: An empirical study for Malawi

Olivier Ecker and Matin Qaim

No 1017, IFPRI discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: Widespread malnutrition in developing countries calls for appropriate strategies, presupposing good knowledge about nutritional impacts of policies. Little previous work has been carried out in this direction, especially with respect to micronutrients. We use representative household data from Malawi and develop a demand systems approach to estimate income and price elasticities of food demand and nutrient consumption. These estimates are applied for policy simulations. Given multiple nutritional deficiencies, income-related policies are better suited than price policies to improve nutrition. Although consumer price subsidies for maize improve calorie and mineral consumption, they can worsen vitamin consumption in urban areas.

Keywords: micronutrient deficiencies; price elasticities; nutrient intake; Malawi; Southern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa; Eastern Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-mic
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152681

Related works:
Journal Article: Analyzing Nutritional Impacts of Policies: An Empirical Study for Malawi (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1017

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