Food Stamp Program and Consumption Choices

Neeraj Kaushal and Qin Gao

No 14988, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We study the effect of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) on consumption patterns in families headed by low-educated single mothers in the U.S. using the Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 1994-2004. Our analysis suggests that the food stamp caseload does not have any statistically significant association with per capita expenditure on food in families headed by low-educated single mothers. We find that state and federal welfare reforms during the 1990s lowered the food stamp caseload by approximately 18 percent and the introduction of the Electronic Benefit Transfer cards and simplified reporting procedures for recertification of food stamps increased participation by about seven percent. However, we do not find any evidence that these policies had any effect on total food expenditure, nor do we find any consistent evidence that the policies affected expenditures on specific food items.

JEL-codes: I1 I3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
Note: EH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as Food Stamp Program and Consumption Choices , Neeraj Kaushal, Qin Gao. in Economic Aspects of Obesity , Grossman and Mocan. 2011

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