Diet Nutritional Quality and the Economic Crisis: Evidence from Italy

This paper analyses the impact of the economic crisis on the nutritional quality of the diet, using budgetary shares obtained by the Italian Household Budget Survey (HBS). First, we construct an index of nutritional quality at the household level based on actual budgetary shares and their compliance with nutritional guidelines. Working on a time-series of cross-section for the period 2006-2012, we are able to individuate some interesting paths across demographic groups and to detect the effect of the economic crisis on diet quality. The analysis shows that people in the North tend to eat healthier than people in other geographical areas; families with more than three members have a better diet quality; singles tend to have a less balanced diet; elderly people are the one having less healthy diet among different age groups. Further, the economic crisis has (unexpectedly) positively impacted the overall nutritional quality of Italian population.