Abstract
This paper examines the association between poverty and food insecurity among children using the official measure of poverty and the newsupplemental poverty measure of the Census Bureau based on a more inclusive definition of family resources and needs. Our objective is to study whether the association between food insecurity and poverty improves with a more comprehensive measure of income and needs. We find a strong and statistically significant association between income-to-needs ratio based on the official poverty metric and food insecurity among children—particularly very low food security among children. A more inclusive measure of income-to-needs-ratio, based on the supplemental poverty measurestrengthens the association. These findings remain robust in models using longitudinal data with person fixed effects.
Document Type
Research Paper
Publication Date
12-2012
Discussion Paper Number
DP 2012-15
Repository Citation
Kaushal, Neeraj; Waldfogel, Jane; Garfinkel, Irwin; and Wight, Vanessa, "Is there More to Food Insecurity among Children than Poverty? The Importance of Measurement" (2012). University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series. 27.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ukcpr_papers/27