Title:
QUANTIFYING FOOD INSECURITY IN THE CONTEXT OF MEASUREMENT ERROR IN MADERA COUNTY, KENYA

Authors:
Gabriel W Mwenjeri, Bernard Njehia, Samuel Mwakubo, Ibrahim Macharia

Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to estimate food insecurity using household expenditure against the backdrop of measurement error for rural households in Mandera County in Kenya. The study uses ordinary least squares and instrumental variable in generalized method of moment (GMM) techniques to quantitatively analyze data on quadratic Engel curve. The study demonstrates that microeconomic data are contaminated by measurement errors which make it easy to overlook food insecure households that are untraceable statistically. Therefore superior statistical techniques that reduces the effect of measurement error should form the basis of quantifying food insecurity to facilitate decision making process and resources allocation.