Food for Thought: Understanding the Impact of Food Insecurity on Fertility Dynamics in the U.S.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between food insecurity rates and fertility rates in the United States using panel data at the county level spanning from 2010 to 2017. Drawing upon health literature that highlights the disproportionate burden of food insecurity on women and its adverse effects on maternal and child health, I investigate the hypothesis that counties with lower rates of food insecurity exhibit lower fertility rates by employing an instrumental variable regression approach with two-way fixed effects. The two most notable findings are, first, that there is weak but suggestive evidence of a positive relationship between food insecurity and fertility at the national level and second, regional disparities can cause this relationship to turn negative. These findings underscore the significance of socioeconomic factors in shaping reproductive behaviors. Further research using alternative econometric techniques is warranted to investigate causal mechanisms in the observed relationship.