Innovations, nudging interventions and food and nutrition security: Evidence from Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Studies in Ethiopia

Summary

Malnutrition is a persistent problem for most developing countries, and Ethiopia is no exception. Due to its multidimensional nature efforts to address malnutrition should be guided by an understanding of the food system. Though there are different cost-effective solutions to tackle malnutrition in the global south, promoting and scaling up these interventions is a challenge. Thus, the question is what strategies are effective to promote interventions so that the impact of these interventions reaches more people. Through my research I seek to contribute to the effort of addressing this question. I focused on pro-poor innovations (fortification, biofortification and improved cook stoves) and tried to identify effective promotion strategies for the first two innovations and explore the extent to which the innovation can be leveraged to tackle malnutrition. In my study, I explored the different aspects of the food system namely food value chains, the food environment and consumer behaviour. I tested different interventions that incorporate insights from the field of psychology and behavioural economics and employed both experimental and quasi-experimental designs.