Healthcare Economist January 26, 2024
How do mental health issues impact the likelihood of food security? This question is difficult to answer empirically for (at a minimum) two primary reasons:
- Endogeneity/Unobserved factors. For instance, personal, family, and neighborhood characteristics (e.g., family stability, access to health care, exposure to violence) may impact both mental health and the likelihood of food insecurity. Additionally, the direction of causality is unclear since mental health issues may lead to reduced likelihood of employment and thus food insecurity; conversely, food insecurity can increase stress and increase the likelihood of mental illness.
- Measurement error. Many studies of mental illness rely on surveys and self-reported measures of mental illness. This may lead to significant measurement error, particularly as stigma leads to misreporting...
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