| Description |
Due to the global spike in food prices in 2008, and subsequently in 2011, much research is being performed to evaluate the effects of price volatility on consumption patterns in developing countries. Prior research has found that remittance payments, the money sent home by migrants from abroad, have a mitigating effect on the consumption instability that often results from these types of economic shocks. Currently however, very little research has been performed addressing the effect of remittances on changes in consumption patterns within specific food groups. Often, when food price shocks hit, poor households will protect staple food consumption but cannot protect dietary diversity, leading to declining nutritional conditions. My research examines trends in consumption patterns, and their associations with changes in food prices and remittances among a cohort of high-remittance receiving countries and low-remittance receiving countries. I will draw conclusions about the role that remittances play in fortifying the consumption of foods like fruits and vegetables, as opposed to staple foods such as cereals and grains. My anticipated results of this study are consistent with the conclusions that have been drawn regarding more general consumption patterns. I hypothesize that remittance payments do, in fact, have a stabilizing effect on dietary diversity and the consumption of nutritious foods in low-income households during periods of food price volatility. If this hypothesis is supported by the data, the significance of these results could reinforce remittance payments as a far more important factor in global economic crises than previously understood. |
