Income Distribution Commons^™

Snap And Food Consumption, Hilary W. Hoynes, Leslie Mcgranahan, Diane W. Schanzenbach

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

In this paper we describe the relationship between SNAP and food consumption. We first present the neoclassical framework for analyzing in-kind transfers, which unambiguously predicts that SNAP will increase food consumption, and then describe the SNAP benefit formula. We then present new evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey on food spending patterns among households overall, SNAP recipients, and other subgroups of interest. We find that a substantial fraction of SNAP-eligible households spend an amount that is above the program’s needs standard. We also show that the relationship between family size and food spending is steeper than the slope of the …

Multiple Program Participation And The Snap Program, Robert A. Moffitt

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

Receipt of benefits from other traditional transfer programs by SNAP families is common, with 76 percent of those families receiving at least one other major benefit of that type, excluding Medicaid, in 2008. However, over half of these only received one other benefit and only a very small fraction received more than two others. Over the long-term, multiple benefit receipt among SNAP families has been falling, a result of declines in the TANF caseload offsetting rises in the SSI, SSDI, and WIC caseloads. Finally, the analysis shows that high marginal tax rates generated by multiple program receipt are relevant for …

The Health And Nutrition Effects Of Snap: Selection Into The Program And A Review Of The Literature On Its Effects, Marianne Bitler

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

The goal of this paper is to assess the existing state of knowledge about whether SNAP improves health and nutrition outcomes, and if so, which ones and by how much.

In an era of fiscal crisis, knowing whether SNAP has any significant causal effect on health and nutrition is crucial for informing policy decisions and policy makers. In this review, I pay particular attention to the challenges researchers face in overcoming selection bias and identifying causal effects of the program, and I will assess the literature through that lens. The fundamental challenge in program evaluation in general and in assessing …