@article{Arora:126897,
      recid = {126897},
      author = {Arora, Abhimanyu and Swinnen, Johan F.M. and Verpoorten,  Marijke},
      title = {Self-Reported Food Insecurity in Africa During the Food  Price Crisis},
      address = {2012},
      number = {1007-2016-79671},
      pages = {39},
      year = {2012},
      abstract = {This article analyzes data on self-reported food  insecurity of more than 50,000 individuals in 18  Sub-
Saharan African countries over the period 2005 to  2008, when global food prices increased
dramatically. The  average level of self-reported food insecurity was high but  remarkably stable, at
about 54%. However, this average  hides large heterogeneity, both within countries and  across
countries. In eight of the sample countries,  self-reported food security improved, while it worsened
in  the ten other countries. Our results suggest that  heterogeneous effects in self-reported food
security are  consistent with economic predictions, as they are  correlated with net food consumption
(both at the household  and country level) and economic growth. Specifically,  self-reported food
security improved on average in rural  households, while it worsened in urban  households.
Improvements in food security were positively  correlated with net food exports and GDP per capita
growth.  We estimate that over the period 2005-2008 between 5 and 12  million people in the 18 SSA
countries became more food  secure. While the self-reported indicator used in this  paper requires
further study and one should carefully  interpret the results, our findings suggest the need for  a
critical evaluation of the currently used data in the  public debate on the food price crisis, which
makes mention  of hundreds of millions of additional food insecure.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/126897},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.126897},
}