Relationship between households’ share of food expenditure and income across South African districts: a multilevel regression analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between household income and the share of food expenditure in South Africa using clustered household income and socio-economic data published in the National Dynamics Income Study. To achieve this objective and because of the clustered nature of the data, a multilevel linear model, in particular, the random intercept model, was employed as a suitable method of investigation. Fixed effect methods were also used to compare results. The results confirmed that the share of household food expenditure is inversely related to household income in a district. This finding is consistent with Engel’s law, such that an increase in household income is related to a decrease in the proportion allocated to food items by a typical household within a district. It was found that the relationship between household income and food expenditure does not vary across districts. The finding also pointed out that the district context matters because the district’s average household income significantly explains the share of food expenditure at the household level.

The Issue of Measuring Household Consumption Expenditure

“…the size and composition of households (Mulamba 2022) as there is no consensus in empirical studies on the rate of household expenditure on food or on the normalization procedure; however, in connection with the works of Enger (1985), it is important to normalize information and use the share of expenditure on food for testing; -unitary models in which household consumption behavior is considered representative or a summary of all household members (Attanasio and Lechene 2014;Belete et al 1999;Chai and Moneta 2010;De Vreyer et al 2020). These models do not take into account heterogeneity in households or they do not cover the influence of household members on behavioral patterns and household consumption.…”

Influence of female and male incomes on food expenditures of Nicaraguan households

“…The variables include the average age and education of female and male earners, as suggested by previous research (Gummerson & Schneider, 2013). The literature (Doss, 2001(Doss, , 2006Schmeer, 2005;Mulamba, 2022;Tingum & Kuponiyi, 2020) also guided the selection of correlates indicating household characteristics, namely the number of adult earners in the household (female and male), the natural logarithm of the household size, iii the number of children in the household, the area and region of residence and the household structure (dual-earner nuclear and multiearner households).…”