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Education and Food Consumption Patterns: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Indonesia

Corresponding Author : Mohammad Rafiqul Islam (rafiqieco@gmail.com)

Authors : Mohammad Rafiqul Islam (rafiqieco@gmail.com), Nicholas Sim (nicholassimcs@suss.edu.sg)

Keywords : Food Consumption Parameters, Average Treatment on the Treated (ATT), Healthy Food and Unhealthy Food

Abstract :

How does education induce to cousume healthy food bundles is an important policy issue for developing countries. Applying the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) 2014, we estimate the returns of food consumption to education and investigate if more educated individuals tend to consume healthier bundles than less-educated individuals do. We implement the Expected Outcome Methodology, which is similar to Average Treatment on The Treated (ATT) conceptualized by Angrist and Pischke (2009). We find that education tends to tilt consumption towards healthier foods. Specifically, individuals with upper secondary or higher levels of education, on average, consume 31.5% more healthy foods than those with lower secondary education or lower levels of education. With respect to unhealthy food consumption, more-educated individuals, on average, consume 22.8% less unhealthy food than less-educated individuals. This suggests that education can increase the inequality in the consumption of healthy food bundles. Our study suggests that it is important to design policies to expand education for all for at least up to higher secondary level in the context of Indonesia. Our finding also speaks to the link between food-health gradient and human capital formation for a developing country such as Indonesia.

Published on December 30th, 2021 in Vol 32, No 2, 2021 (Special Issue on Bangladesh Development Perspectives : Issues of Economic Justic, Social Sciences