Nutrient Demand Elasticities with Noisy Measures of Household Resources

Many studies suggest that changes in household economic resources (incomes and expenditure) have little effect on nutrient intakes and child malnutrition in developing countries. This paper examines the impact that errors-in-variables have on inferences about the importance of household incomes to the calorie and protein demands of households. Results are based on a new household survey from Papua New Guinea, with repeated observations on households during the year. These repeated observations allow regression estimates to be corrected for the differing reliabilities of the explanatory variables.