Papers in Refereed Journals

Abstract 

The United Nations Social Development Goals ensure the achievement of food security by 2030. Food security is characterized by various aspects, however in this study we focus on economic vulnerability to food insecurity. In particular, we compared two measures: food insecurity levels as defined by the Integrated food security phase classification Global-Partners quantitative scale and those defined by the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security qualitative scale. The qualitative scale only measures nutritional status using specific questions, regardless of food expenditures, while the quantitative scale is based on the share of consumer expenditure spent on food (the ratio between food expenditure and total expenditure). From our analysis on 2018 Mexico data—therefore unaffected by the pandemic—59% of discrepancies were found between the two measures. The qualitative scale does not classify people who spend too much on food as being food insecure, so they are economically vulnerable about housing, healthcare and other important aspects of social life (access to food generate insecurity). The quantitative scale does not identify people who do not have access to high-quality nutrition because they must pay for other fixed expenses, for example for housing or healthcare. These two measures depict two aspects of economic vulnerability to food insecurity, and here we quantify this difference in a developing country. Future research should be at integrating these two aspects into one single indicator based on food and non-food expenditures, so to take into account both the two aspects by using only consumption expenditure data.

Abstract

In this study, we apply the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand the factors that explained adherence to health recommendations during the first wave of Covid-19 in Mexico City. To do this, we designed and implemented an online survey on prevention measures. In addition, we generate an empirical correlate of the Theory of Planned Behavior to hypothesize about correlations between variables in the survey. In addition, we included four simple experiments in the survey. We found that norms, attitudes and perception of control are correlated with the planning and adoption of preventive actions. In the experiments we observe (1) that corruption reduces the credibility of the government with respect to the health crisis, (2) doctors are more persuasive about prevention, and (3) masks generate feelings of security. We conclude that the Theory of Planned Behavior is useful to make sense of data from surveys like ours. We encourage governments in developing countries to use methods like ours to collect and interpret data, even if provisional, to respond to future health crises.

Abstract

Household food waste is driven by consumer habits and behaviors. The necessary measures implemented during the lockdown worldwide to contain the Covid-19 pandemic altered these consumer practices. This paper examines how household's culinary traditions and food management have changed in Mexico as a result of Covid-related restrictions, and their impact on food waste. We obtained 525 answers using an online survey about food habits distributed through social networks in Mexico between December 2020 and January 2021. The results show that the participating households increased their monetary expenditure on groceries and reduced food waste during the pandemic. The estimation of consumer responsiveness to waste, through the introduction of a framework based on a Quadratic Almost-Ideal Demand System, confirms that, even more during the lockdown, food waste has become a luxury good. The analysis of food category changes allows for a detailed study useful to curtail the level of food waste in Mexican households and to encourage transition towards sustainable and circular consumption behaviors.