Income shock and food insecurity prediction Vietnam under the pandemic

Regional differences, distributional dynamics and convergence of multidimensional food security levels in China

Food security is one of the important issues in the current world development process. The article takes 31 provinces (districts and cities) in China as the research object and constructs a multidimensional food security level evaluation index system from four dimensions: quantitative security, nutritional security, ecological security, and capacity security. Using the entropy method, China's food security index was calculated for the ten-year period from 2013 to 2022. Overall, China's food security level showed an upward trend during the decade, with the provinces of Shandong, Heilongjiang, and Henan having the highest level of security. The distribution dynamics of food security and its spatiotemporal evolution in the seven regions were examined using the Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition, and the absolute and conditional convergence of food security in the different areas was verified. The results of the study show that the provinces within East China have the largest gap in food security levels between them, and there is absolute β-convergence. Looking at China as a whole, the development of its food security level is characterized by significant convergence, which means that provinces with a low level of food security will have a faster rate of growth than those with a high level of food security, resulting in a gradual narrowing of the gap in food security levels between provinces.

Does domestic migration adversely affect food security? Evidence from Vietnam

With a population of more than 100 million as of December 2022, food security remains a persistent challenge in Vietnam despite achieving a miracle of economic growth and social transformation in recent decades. Vietnam has also experienced a significant migration from rural areas into urban cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau. The effects of domestic migration on food security have largely been neglected in the existing literature, particularly in Vietnam. This study investigates the impacts of domestic migration on food security using data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys. Food security is proxied by three dimensions: food expenditure, calorie consumption, and food diversity. The difference-in-difference and instrumental variable estimation techniques are used in this study to address endogeneity and selection bias. The empirical results reveal that domestic migration in Vietnam increases food expenditure and calorie consumption. We also find significant effects of wage, land and family characteristics such as education level and the number of family members on food security when different food groups are considered. Regional income, household headship and the number of children in a family mediate the relationship between domestic migration and food security in Vietnam.

Economic Access to Food and COVID-19: New Challenges for the Russian Exclave

The economic access to food is a very sensitive topic and serves as one of the significant criteria for the standard of living of the population, especially during periods of crisis. In this regard, assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food market is of particular interest, especially in border regions, where dependence on imported food is usually significant (in the case of competitive prices) and cross-border shopping trips are typical for consumer behavior. The aim of the study was to identify changes in the economic access to food during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Russian exclave, that is, Kaliningrad oblast. It is characterized by particular vulnerability to crises, low food self-sufficiency and systemic problems in the labor market. The results of the study are based on an analysis of statistical indicators that assess the standard of living of the population and food prices in 2020–2021, as well as the results of a mass survey of the population conducted by the authors in September 2021. The study showed that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reduction of the economic food availability is expressed in the traditional problems of falling incomes and rising food prices in times of crisis. The most affected groups of the population are low-income residents of the region, including the unemployed, pensioners, and low-skilled workers with a primary or secondary education. The deterioration of their financial situation against the backdrop of outpacing the country’s average inflation rate in the region affects the almost two-fold increase in the proportion of residents of the region (up to 64%) whose food expenditures accounted for more than 40% of income. In the gradients of changes in the economic access to food at the local level, the influence of not only the center-periphery disproportions, but also the factor of the border location has been noted. It defines the periphery of the border municipalities in terms of the standard of living of the population, on the one hand, and a higher level of involvement in foreign economic interaction with neighboring states, on the other. Such features lead to more negative manifestations of the decrease in the economic access to food in municipalities located along the border with Poland.