Do some forms of social capital matter more for diet quality? Propensity score matching evidence from intra-household data in Pakistan

Social capital matters for diet quality. We show how heterogeneous social capital resources mobilized by male and female household members impact their diet quality during a food price shock in Pakistan. Social capital is defined as material (i.e. instrumental) resources mobilized from interpersonal network ties. Our propensity score matching analysis relies on an intra-household personal network survey to document how heterogeneity in social capital resource impacts on diet quality across male and female household members. Four categories of resources are analyzed: (1) bridging resources (mobilized from ‘weak’ ties to individuals of higher social status), (2) bonding resources (mobilized from close ties with individuals of similar social status), (3) informal credit resources, (4) gifts and charitable resources. We find higher-valued bonding, bridging and gift-based social capital resources are important for diet quality, but not informal credit. Some evidence of a gender gap in social capital impact on diet quality is identified.