Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria
Measurement of food access typically relies on a consensus of different indicators. However, there is a growing list of surveys in which the Food Insecurity Experience Scale is one of the few food access indicators captured, likely because it is an...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099728008162219371/IDU083a9faf7020780466008c130dd4bcbc7dfa5 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37894 |
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okr-10986-378942022-08-24T05:10:35Z Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria Lain, Jonathan Tandon, Sharad Vishwanath, Tara FOOD INSECURITY MEASUREMENT FOOD ACCESS INDICATORS FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE POVERTY INDICATORS FOOD ASSISTANCE TARGETING Measurement of food access typically relies on a consensus of different indicators. However, there is a growing list of surveys in which the Food Insecurity Experience Scale is one of the few food access indicators captured, likely because it is an official measure for tracking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger. This paper uses a nationally representative, multipurpose household survey conducted in Nigeria to investigate the validity of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. It compares the Food Insecurity Experience Scale to monetary poverty and a widely used food access metric that has been more extensively validated, the Food Consumption Score. Although it is possible for food access metrics to be poorly aligned and capture different dimensions of poor food access, empirically supported assumptions in standard consumption models result in many dimensions of poor food access being concentrated among the poorest segments of the population. However, the paper demonstrates that the Food Insecurity Experience Scale does not appear to correctly identify the population with poor food access—it finds little difference in the share with poor food access among poor and nonpoor Nigerians. Moreover, even the very richest and very poorest households have a similar prevalence of poor food access, according to the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. These patterns are in stark contrast to the Food Consumption Score, which suggests that food access is significantly lower for poorer Nigerians. Combined, the results demonstrate the importance of measuring food access with more than one indicator, and they call into question the notion of using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale alone, despite the measure being a key Sustainable Development Goal food security indicator. 2022-08-17T14:42:30Z 2022-08-17T14:42:30Z 2022-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099728008162219371/IDU083a9faf7020780466008c130dd4bcbc7dfa5 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37894 English en Policy Research Working Papers;10141 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Nigeria |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English English |
| topic |
FOOD INSECURITY MEASUREMENT FOOD ACCESS INDICATORS FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE POVERTY INDICATORS FOOD ASSISTANCE TARGETING |
| spellingShingle |
FOOD INSECURITY MEASUREMENT FOOD ACCESS INDICATORS FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE POVERTY INDICATORS FOOD ASSISTANCE TARGETING Lain, Jonathan Tandon, Sharad Vishwanath, Tara Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria |
| geographic_facet |
Nigeria |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Papers;10141 |
| description |
Measurement of food access typically
relies on a consensus of different indicators. However,
there is a growing list of surveys in which the Food
Insecurity Experience Scale is one of the few food access
indicators captured, likely because it is an official
measure for tracking progress toward the Sustainable
Development Goal of zero hunger. This paper uses a
nationally representative, multipurpose household survey
conducted in Nigeria to investigate the validity of the Food
Insecurity Experience Scale. It compares the Food Insecurity
Experience Scale to monetary poverty and a widely used food
access metric that has been more extensively validated, the
Food Consumption Score. Although it is possible for food
access metrics to be poorly aligned and capture different
dimensions of poor food access, empirically supported
assumptions in standard consumption models result in many
dimensions of poor food access being concentrated among the
poorest segments of the population. However, the paper
demonstrates that the Food Insecurity Experience Scale does
not appear to correctly identify the population with poor
food access—it finds little difference in the share with
poor food access among poor and nonpoor Nigerians. Moreover,
even the very richest and very poorest households have a
similar prevalence of poor food access, according to the
Food Insecurity Experience Scale. These patterns are in
stark contrast to the Food Consumption Score, which suggests
that food access is significantly lower for poorer
Nigerians. Combined, the results demonstrate the importance
of measuring food access with more than one indicator, and
they call into question the notion of using the Food
Insecurity Experience Scale alone, despite the measure being
a key Sustainable Development Goal food security indicator. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Lain, Jonathan Tandon, Sharad Vishwanath, Tara |
| author_facet |
Lain, Jonathan Tandon, Sharad Vishwanath, Tara |
| author_sort |
Lain, Jonathan |
| title |
Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_short |
Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_full |
Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_fullStr |
Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria |
| title_sort |
should the food insecurity experience scale crowd out other food access measures? : evidence from nigeria |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099728008162219371/IDU083a9faf7020780466008c130dd4bcbc7dfa5 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37894 |
| _version_ |
1764488076845907968 |