Food Inflation, Food Security, and Recovery from Learning Loss: Evidence from Developing Asia

Wataru Kodama, Dina Azhgaliyeva and Peter Morgan
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Wataru Kodama: International Fund for Agricultural Development
Dina Azhgaliyeva: Asian Development Bank
Peter Morgan: PJM Consulting

No 801, ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank

Abstract: Literature links food insecurity to adverse welfare outcomes, including the educational performance of children. This paper investigates whether food insecurity, exacerbated by recent food inflation, has hindered schoolchildren’s recovery from learning loss following coronavirus disease-related school closures. We examine this relationship using household data collected in 2023 from nine countries (Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan)—severely affected by food inflation. Our data document high severity of food insecurity and limited perceived learning progress after schools reopened in many countries. Using a novel instrumental variable, the relative severity of food inflation compared to general inflation, we find a causal link between households’ food insecurity and delays in learning progress after schools reopened. This effect is particularly pronounced among schoolchildren in higher grades and those who experienced longer durations of school closure, suggesting that food insecurity hampered recovery from learning loss during the school closure.

Keywords: food inflation; food security; learning progress; Central Asia and Caucasus; South Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I24 I32 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27
Date: 2025-09-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-dev and nep-tra
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