The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Asset Limit: Reports of Its Death May Be Exaggerated

Peter Mueser, Colleen Heflin and Jacob Cronin
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Colleen Heflin: Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri
Jacob Cronin: Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri

No 1506, Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Missouri

Abstract: It is reported that 35 states no longer impose asset limits for eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reversing a policy that had been in effect until 2000 limiting liquid assets to $2000 for most households. Our research shows that information provided by state and federal websites for prospective SNAP applicants in most of these states is inconsistent with this policy. For 28 of the 35 states which were reported to have eliminated asset tests, the state website, or a state-specific federal website, provided information indicating that an asset limit was in effect. We suspect that this does not reflect a conscious policy but rather a lack of administrative attention, in combination with the complexity of broad-based categorical eligibility. Whatever its source, this discrepancy discourages eligible individuals from applying for SNAP, violates policy transparency, and blunts public policy benefits that may accrue from elimination of the asset test.

Keywords: SNAP; assets; Food Stamps; resource limits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H53 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2015-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:umc:wpaper:1506

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