Resumen

FELIX-VERDUZCO, Gustavo; ABOITES MANRIQUE, Gilberto  y  CASTRO LUGO, David. Food security and its relationship with uncertainty and sufficiency of income: an analysis from the household perceptions. Acta univ [online]. 2018, vol.28, n.4, pp.74-86. ISSN 2007-9621.  https://doi.org/10.15174/au.2018.1757.

The everyone’s right of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food is recognized in Mexico since the amendments made in 2011 to Article 4 of the Constitution. Food security occurs when all individuals cover this right, which does not occur even in developed countries, such as the United States, when in 2014 14 per cent of households were food insecure. The same year the percentage of food insecurity was 42.5 per cent in Mexico (based on measurements about perception and hunger experiences). Apparently, sufficient income should be enough for food security; however, the analysis reveals that one third of households with incomes above the welfare line are insecure. In contrast, not all households below the line qualify for food insecurity: in 2014, 45 per cent of these households were food safety. The paper explores this paradox and contrasts the hypothesis that food insecurity is determined not only by insufficiency but also by the uncertainty of income inflow, leading the analysis unto the perspective of job stability. The empirical work uses microdata from the ENIGH 2008-2014 to estimate a multilevel probit model that controls regional heterogeneity. Results support the hypothesis.

Palabras llave : Food insecurity; household income; poverty; social perception.