COVID-19 and Food Security among Families with Young Children in the MENA Region

Abstract

This study identifies how food consumption has been affected in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak among families with young children. We use the Economic Research Forum COVID-19 MENA Monitor Survey, a cross-sectional dataset covering countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, to empirically assess whether the pandemic positively or negatively impacts households’ food consumption. We use the Propensity Score Matching Technique to estimate the causal effect of three main independent variables (i.e., income, mobility restrictions, and the increase in food prices) on food consumption. Results suggest that all main variables cause food reduction. In a further investigation, we perform our regression by country and occupation. Our findings indicate a drop in food consumption in all studied countries, with Tunisia being the most affected among all studied countries. Regarding the occupation, we find that employees followed by farmers are more affected than managers during the pandemic. The paper offers some recommendations for policymakers to mitigate the ongoing crisis.