The Effects of Minimum Wages on Food Stamp Enrollment and Expenditures

Michael Reich and Rachel West

Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series from Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley

Abstract: We provide the first analysis of how minimum wage policy affect s enrollments and expenditures i n the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Exploiting state and federal - level variation in minimum - wage policy between 1990 and 2012, and incorporating local controls in our specifications, we find that a 10 percent minimum wage increase reduces SNAP enrollment between 2.4 and 3.2 percent, and reduces program expenditures an estimated 1.9 percent. If the federal minimum wage were increased from $7.25 to $10.10, enrollment would fall between 7 .5 and 8.7 percent (3. 1 to 3. 6 million persons) relative to 2012 levels, and annual expenditures would decrease 6 percent ($4.6 billion).

Keywords: Social; and; Behavioral; Sciences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-06-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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