Zaman, HassanSkoufias, EmmanuelTiwari, Sailesh2012-03-192012-03-192011-01-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3319The 2008 "food price crisis" and more recent spikes in food prices have led to a greater focus on policies and programs to cushion their impact on poverty and malnutrition. Estimating the income elasticity of micro-nutrients and assessing how they change during such crises is an important part of the policy debate as it affects the effectiveness of cash transfer and nutritional supplementation programs. This paper assesses these issues using data from two cross-sectional household surveys in Indonesia carried out before and soon after the 1997/98 economic crisis, which led to a sharp increase in food prices. First, the authors examine how the income elasticity of the starchy staple ratio differs between the two survey rounds using non-parametric as well as regression methods. Second, they provide updated estimates of the income elasticity for important nutrients in Indonesia. The analysis finds that (i) summary measures such as the income elasticity of the starchy staple ratio may not change during crises but this masks important differences across specific nutrients; (ii) methods matter -- the ordinary least squares estimates for the income elasticity of micro-nutrients are likely to be misleading due to measurement error bias; (iii) controlling for measurement error, the income elasticity of some key micro-nutrients, such as iron, calcium, and vitamin B1, is significantly higher in the crisis year compared with a normal year; and (iv) the income elasticity for certain micro-nutrients -- vitamin C in this case -- remains close to zero. These results suggest that cash transfer programs may be even more effective during crises to protect the consumption of many essential micro-nutrients compared with non-crisis periods but in order to ensure that all micro-nutrients are consumed, specific nutritional supplementation programs are also likely to be required.CC BY 3.0 IGOADVERSE EFFECTSAGGREGATE MEASUREAGRICULTURAL COMMODITIESAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICSAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONASCORBIC ACIDCACALCIUMCALORIE INCOMECALORIE INTAKECARBOHYDRATECARBOHYDRATESCAROTENECASH TRANSFER PROGRAMSCASH TRANSFERSCEREALSCHEAPER FOODCONSUMER GOODSCONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONSUMPTION EXPENDITURESCOOKINGCROSS-SECTIONAL DATADAIRYDATA SETDEMAND FOR FOODDEVELOPING WORLDDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT POLICYDIETDIETARY INTAKESDRINKING WATERECONOMETRICSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMIC SHOCKSECONOMIC STUDIESECONOMIC SURVEYSECONOMIC THEORYECONOMIES OF SCALEEGGSELASTICITYEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEENGEL CURVEENGEL CURVESESSENTIAL NUTRIENTSFARM HOUSEHOLDSFATSFEEDING PROGRAMSFINANCIAL CRISISFOOD CONSUMPTIONFOOD DISTRIBUTIONFOOD EXPENDITUREFOOD EXPENDITURESFOOD INTAKEFOOD ITEMSFOOD POLICYFOOD POLICY RESEARCHFOOD PREFERENCESFOOD PRICEFOOD PRICE INDEXFOOD PRICESFOOD SECURITYFOOD SHAREFOOD TRANSFERSFRUITSFUTURE RESEARCHGRAINSHETEROSKEDASTICITYHIGH CONCENTRATIONHOUSEHOLD BUDGETHOUSEHOLD COMPOSITIONHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD FOOD INSECURITYHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSEHOLD WELFAREHUNGERIMPACT ON POVERTYINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME EFFECTINCOME ELASTICITYINCOME ELASTICITY OF DEMANDINCOME GROUPSINCOME ON FOODINCOME SUPPORTINCOMESINEQUALITYINFLATION RATEINSURANCEINTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEIRONLINEAR REGRESSIONMALNUTRITIONMEASUREMENT ERRORMEASUREMENT ERRORSMEATMICRONUTRIENTSNEGATIVE SIGNNOMINAL INCOME0 HYPOTHESISNUTRIENTNUTRIENT CONTENTNUTRITION POLICYNUTRITIONAL OUTCOMESNUTRITIONAL STATUSNUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTATIONPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPOLICY ANALYSISPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY PERSPECTIVEPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOORPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR PEOPLEPOOR RURAL HOUSEHOLDSPOVERTY IMPACTPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY REDUCTIONPREPARED FOODSPRICE CHANGESPRICE INCREASESPRICE SUBSIDIESPROTEINPULSESPURCHASING POWERREAL INCOMEREGIONAL INEQUALITYREGRESSION ANALYSISRELATIVE PRICESRICERURALRURAL AREASRURAL CONSUMERSSAFETY NET PROGRAMSSEASONINGSSIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCESSIGNIFICANT IMPACTSMOOTHING CONSUMPTIONSOCIAL SAFETYSOFT DRINKSSTAPLE FOODSSTARCHESSUPPLEMENTARY FEEDINGTRANSACTION COSTSTUBERSUNDERNUTRITIONVEGETABLESVITAMINVITAMIN AVITAMIN BVITAMIN CVITAMINSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5548