Does food security matter to subjective well‐being? Evidence from a cross‐country panel

The conventional economics literature equates welfare with consumption‐based utility, neglecting the psychological effects of uncertainty and fear of the future on well‐being. In this study, we examine how food insecurity relates to changes in subjective well‐being within a comparative analysis across different country groups between 2005 and 2018 and find that food insecurity matters to well‐being. We also examine the relationship between experienced food insecurity and well‐being, taking into account any potential endogeneity. In low‐income, food‐deficient, food‐importing and drought‐affected countries, changes in the prevalence of undernourishment explain a great deal of the variation in subjective well‐being over time.