Real consumer food prices and child mortality: Evidence from low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of short-term changes in real consumer food prices on short-term fluctuations in neonatal, infant, and child mortality rates using a panel dataset covering 59 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for the period 2000–2015. Quarterly mortality rates were constructed from over 145 rounds of the standard Demographic and Health Surveys allowing to identify short-term (<1 year) effects of food price shocks. The results indicate that rising real food prices had a large and significant effect on neonatal, infant, and child mortalities, regardless of the type of country-specific time trends chosen.