Estimating nutrition-income elasticities in sub-Saharan African:Implication on health

Ogundari, Kolawole and Ito, Shoichi and Okoruwa, Victor (2014): Estimating nutrition-income elasticities in sub-Saharan African:Implication on health.

Abstract

The study estimates calories, proteins and fats-income elasticities in sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Annual time series data for 43 countries covering 1975-2009 that yields a balanced panel was employed for the analysis. The nutrient-income elasticities are estimated based on the aggregate Engel Curve framework using Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) technique that is robust to autocorrelation and non-parametric plot. The empirical results show that a 10% increase in income will lead to about a 0.90%, 0.87%, and 0.73% rise in fats, proteins and calories supply, respectively in the region. This shows that the estimated nutrient-income elasticities are of small size. Other results show that the relationship between calorie and protein-income was found to be non-linear at higher income and diminished, as revealed by the estimated aggregate Engel Curve and non-parametric plot.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Nutrition, health, income elasticity, cross-country, and SSA
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E00 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General

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