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32 SHENGGEN FAN AND JOANNA BRZESKA


Does Growth Matter? Few studies have tried to explain and quantify how economic growth contributes to reducing undernutrition. One reason could be the widely accepted assumption that economic growth will ultimately lead to improved nutrition through increased incomes and food expenditures. However, the limited evidence that exists offers either inconclusive or conflicting results on the link between growth and nutrition. A number of studies find that overall economic growth—usually represented


by gross domestic product (GDP), per capita GDP, and per capita income—is only weakly associated with indicators of nutritional status and argue instead in favor of more direct nutrition interventions (Neeliah and Shankar 2008). In contrast, another group of studies has found a positive and significant link between increased economic growth and nutritional status—either unidirectional or bidirectional (Subramanian and Deaton 2009). One cross-country study, for example, not only found that income growth had a positive effect on children’s weight-for-age but also projected that similar income growth rates can produce significantly differ- ent reductions in malnutrition across countries over a period of about 25 years (Haddad et al. 2003). (See Figure 1.) Because many of these countries have not been able to sustain significant annual income growth, the authors argue that improving nutritional status will require balancing income growth with cost- effective health and nutrition interventions, including vitamin supplementation and nutrition education.


FIGURE 1 Projected reduction in child malnutrition rate with 2.5 percent annual growth in per capita income, 1990s to 2015


20 40 60 80


0


Source: Haddad et al. 2003.


% projected reduction in


child malnutrition Egypt


Jamaica Kenya


Kyrgyz Rep. Morocco


Mozambique Nepal


Pakistan Peru


Romania


South Africa Vietnam


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