Does Early Food Insecurity Impede the Educational Access Needed to Become Food Secure. University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series, DP2019-04

Education is considered one of the great equalizers of economic opportunity. However, pre-existing differences in educational access may generate differences in educational investment, which may perpetuate the economic inequalities that education is supposed to mitigate. In this paper, we examine the role of reduced educational investment as a mechanism for the intergenerational transmission of food insecurity. Specifically, we examine how food insecurity during childhood may reduce educational investments, which, in turn, may increase food insecurity during adulthood. Identifying the mechanism(s) for the intergenerational transmission of food insecurity is essential for designing effective policies to address food insecurity and improve national nutrition and health. Furthermore, understanding the extent to which improvements in food security create positive spillovers in future educational attainment and food security will provide a clearer assessment of the value of programs designed to improve food security. We use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine education as a potential mechanism (mediator) in the intergenerational transmission of food insecurity. We follow a sample of children almost two decades as they transition from childhood to adulthood. We use an estimator developed by Flores and Flores-Lagunes (2009) to estimate the share of the intergenerational transmission of food insecurity that can be attributed to compromised educational investments. In our preliminary analysis, we find only a small amount of evidence for reduced educational investment as a mechanism for the intergenerational transmission of food insecurity. However, the estimates vary widely across specifications such that large effects are not ruled out.