Suchergebnisse

This paper examines inequality and welfare in food consumption
expenditure in Pakistan. The indices are derived on the basis of Sen's
welfare function by employing HIES, 2005-06. The empirical results show
that inequality and welfare varied widely in urban and rural areas. It
can be seen that the concentration index of non essential/luxury food
components are unevenly distributed over the total expenditure in favour
of rich families. The price elasticity of welfare indicates that rising
prices of food components have negative effect on the aggregate welfare.
The present analysis provides a basis for determining the magnitude of
inequality and welfare that can help in designing appropriate policies.
JEL classification: D12, D13, D31, I31 Keywords: Food Consumption,
Inequality, Welfare, Elasticity

AbstractPrevious research shows that the way transfer income is disbursed can affect what households purchase with that income. In this paper, I provide evidence that disbursement technique can affect the timing of purchases as well. I examine the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which switched on a state‐by‐state basis from cash‐similar food coupons to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)—a secure debit card—from 1993 to 2004. I find that EBT mitigated boom and bust cycles in food spending associated with SNAP disbursement. This effect is entirely driven by households with children (about two thirds of the SNAP population), who experienced more severe cycles prior to EBT. The effect operates only through the intensive margin—the amount spent on food during a shopping trip—and not at all on the extensive margin—the likelihood of going food shopping.

The proportion of a household's budget spent on diet has commonly served as an important measure of material welfare. This paper pulls together data concerning trends in food expenditures for early modern England and draws comparisons with figures for later periods. The usefulness of wage assessments, a new source for estimating the proportion of outlays devoted to diet, is examined. The impact on food expenditures of new commodities and other dietary shifts is also explored. The findings call into question earlier estimates of the proportion of total expenditure devoted to food and drink in the pre-industrial period and the assumption that food expenditures are always inelastic.

The present paper aims to shed light on the changing pattern of gender disparity in health and food expenditure over time among the elderly in India. National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) data of the 55th (1999-2000) and the 64th (2007-2008) rounds on household consumer expenditure have been used for this study. Further, the paper examines whether change in the sex composition of the elderly in households contributes to a change in health and food expenditure. The findings indicate wide gender disparity in food and health care expenditure, with that of males being higher than that of their female counterparts; the gap, however, is narrowing with time. The compositional shift in sex among the elderly in households contributes significantly to the decline in household health and the increase in household food expenditure over time.

As Malaysia continues its stable economic growth, certain income groups remain vulnerable to economic shocks, particularly the B40 households especially during this Covid-19 pandemic. Almost 80 percent of B40 household income spent on routine essential expenses with the highest proportion on food and non-alcoholic beverages. Hence, any spike in the food prices will impact this income group the most. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the spending pattern of households on food and non-alcoholic beverages items of different income groups. This study also examines the effects of important socio-economics factors on the consumption pattern of food and non-alcoholic beverages among B40 households in Malaysia. Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2016 dataset has been employed. A total of 14,551 households were used. Linear regression technique was developed to examine the effects of selected socio-economic factors including average price for food items, B40 income, household size, education, ethnicity, marital status, occupation, location, age, gender, and house ownership) on household food expenditure. Descriptive analysis indicates, average expenditure on food consumption by B40 households is RM563.13, while average monthly income is RM 2,540.81. While, for M40 and T20 average monthly food expenditure among households is estimated at RM766.59 and RM948.60 respectively. The average monthly income estimated at RM 5,723.34 and RM14,159.87 for M40 and T20 respectively. The B40 income group spend 29% of their income on food expenditure. Fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, rice, and bread/kuih are the top five food expenditures respectively. The regression analysis indicates that, apart from semi-skilled occupation, all other factors in the linear model significantly affects the food expenditure. Thus, the results recommend the government to closely monitor the top food items mostly consumed by B40 and M40 income group. This may help to minimize the cost of living on food expenditure borne by these income ...