Will Developing Country Nutrition Improve with Income? A Case Study for Rural South India.

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 1987
Volume: 95
Issue: 3
Pages: 492-507

Authors (2)

Behrman, Jere R (University of Pennsylvania) Deolalikar, Anil B (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

The World Bank and others maintain that the major mechanism for improving nutrition in poor communities is increases in income. Aggregate estimates of food expenditure are consistent with such a possibility, implying income/expenditure elasticities close to one. However, the high degree of aggregation at which such estimates are made means that the considerable increase in price per nutrient as income increases is ignored, and the nutrient elasticities are therefore overstated. Estimates for a rural south Indian sample indicate that this bias is considerable and that the true nutrient elasticities with respect to income may be close to zero. Copyright 1987 by University of Chicago Press.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:v:95:y:1987:i:3:p:492-507
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24