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In this paper we rigorously examine the association of household food security status with maternal and child nutritional status exploring a rich micro‐level database, the Comprehensive Nutrition Survey Maharashtra 2012. Using Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) as a metric to measure household food security, we apply simultaneous probit models to estimate the effect of food insecurity on maternal and child nutritional outcomes. The modelling framework addresses possible endogeneity in the above relationship. Findings indicate that household food insecurity increases the risk of maternal and child underweight with no effect on child stunting, wasting or maternal overweight. Women's decision‐making power mediates these associations. Food security interventions should be effective in tackling the concerns with undernutrition, however, food alone is not the solution. A mix of nutrition‐specific and nutrition‐sensitive policies is warranted. Food security interventions should be integrated into policies for human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of access to credit prevents poor households in developing countries from diversifying into income-generating activities that could safeguard them against unforeseen shocks and seasonality, leaving them susceptible to food deprivation, even when aggregate food supplies are adequate. Microcredit programmes help these households to access financial capital that could help improve their food security situation. We examine how microcredit affects different measures of food security; namely, household calorie availability, dietary diversity indicators and anthropometric status of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) and children under the age of 5 years. We find that microcredit programme participation increases calorie availability both at the intensive and extensive margins, but does not improve dietary diversity and only has mixed effects on the anthropometric measures. We also find that the effect of microcredit participation on food security may be non-linear in which participation initially has either no effect on food security or may actually worsen it, before improving it in the longer run. Our results help to explain why existing short-term evaluations of microcredit sometimes do not show any positive effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]