Education and the Vulnerability to Food Inadequacy in Timor-Leste

This paper adopts a simple empirical approach to estimate vulnerability to food inadequacy using cross-section data from the 2001 Timor-Leste Living Standard Measurement Survey. This measurement is based on the assumption that households are exposed to the same kind of shock. It is found that the distribution of vulnerability to food inadequacy to the education of household head is more significant than that to observed food poverty. The results support the argument that senior primary and tertiary education can help reduce the food risk that households face, in particular the risk that a household is undernourished. Thus, in Timor-Leste public spending on these forms of education can provide a form of support that favours the poor.