The Probability of Food Security: A new longitudinal data set using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Abstract: The study of food security dynamics in the U.S. has long been impeded by the lack of extended longitudinal observations of the same households or individuals. This paper applies a newly-introduced household-level food security measure, the probability of food security (PFS), to 26 waves of Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data, spanning 1979-2019, to generate a data product we describe and make newly available to the research community. We detail the construction of this unprecedentedly long food security panel data series in PSID data. Finally, we estimate key subpopulation- and national-level food security dynamics identifiable over the 40-year (1979-2019) period spanning multiple recessions and federal nutrition assistance policy changes, including disaggregated dynamics based on geography, race, sex, and educational attainment.