Low-income household food consumption consequences of rice policy and pandemic impacts on income and price in Thailand

Using Thai household data, we estimated a demand system and analyzed the impacts of changes in rice prices and household income on food consumption, then used these results in four experiments. We found that a trade policy that attempts to reduce domestic prices benefits households in the higher income brackets while negatively affecting low-income, rice-producing households’ food security. Results suggest that an agricultural policy with a view to support food security might have different, if not opposite, distributional impacts on targeted groups.