A Quantile Decomposition of Household's Food Security in India by Caste

Abstract

This paper examined food security differentials between forwarding and backward castes in rural and urban India using Oaxaca-quantile type decomposition analysis. National sample survey data on consumer expenditure of 2004-05, 2009-10, and 2011-12 were used for analysis. Log ratio of per-capita calorie intake per day to the recommended intake used as the indicator of food security. The incidence of food insecurity was higher for backward caste than the forward caste in rural and urban areas. Households characteristics accounts about 66.66% to 96.20% percent of overall gap in rural area, and the coefficient effect ranges from 5% percent to 32%, which suggesting of widening of food security between forwarding and backward castes. In urban area, characteristic effect ranges from 123% to 151% and coefficient ranges from 23% to fifty-one percent. The negative sign of coefficients effect reduces food security gap, whereas the positive sign of characteristics effect widening food security gap. In overall, quantile decomposition results ascertained difference in characteristics explains the gap more than the coefficient effects in rural and urban area. Therefore, this study concluded that if backward castes have similar characteristics of forwarding caste, then they could have done a better performance.

Keywords: Food Security, RIF Quantile regression, Oaxaca decomposition, India

JEL Classification: C31, D11, I38, O12