Article
Fueling Calorie Intake Decline: Household Level Evidence from Rural India
World Development
(2014)
Abstract
In India, average per capita calorie intake has declined even as real per capita monthly expenditure has increased. Since cross sectional evidence suggests a robust positive relationship between the two variables, the trend emerges as a major puzzle. Using household-level data from 4 recent rounds of National Sample Survey data (1987-88, 1993-94, 2004-05, and 2009-10) on consumption expenditure and a novel instrumental variable estimation strategy we find strong evidence for a food-budget squeeze as an explanation of the puzzle: rising expenditures on cooking fuel have led to falling calorie intake.
Keywords
- calorie intake; India; instrumental variables
Disciplines
Publication Date
April, 2014
Citation Information
Deepankar Basu and Amit Basole. "Fueling Calorie Intake Decline: Household Level Evidence from Rural India" World Development Vol. 68 (2014) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/deepankar_dasu/21/