Measuring effects of SNAP on obesity at the intensive margin

Lorenzo N. Almada and Rusty Tchernis

Economics & Human Biology, 2018, vol. 31, issue C, 150-163

Abstract: The effects of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on obesity have been the focus of much debate. However, causal interpretation of estimates from previous studies, comparing participants to non-participants, is complicated by endogeneity and possible misreporting of participation in SNAP. In this paper, we take a novel approach to examine quasi-experimental variation in SNAP benefit amount on adult obesity. Children of SNAP households qualify for free in-school meals, thus freeing some additional benefits for the household. A greater proportion of school-age children eligible for free in-school meals proxies for an exogenous increase in the amount of SNAP benefits available per adult. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 we show that school meals represent a non-trivial part of the food budget for SNAP households. We find that increases in SNAP benefits have no effect on obesity levels for the full sample of those who report SNAP participation. To better isolate the effects of additional benefits from other potential changes we restrict our analysis to adults living in households with at least one child under 5 years of age. In this setting, we find that additional SNAP benefits reduce BMI and the probability of being obese for SNAP adults. Specifically, when one child in a household of four becomes school-aged, adult BMI is expected to decrease by 0.23 units and the probability of being obese decreases by 2.58 percentage points or by about 10%.

Keywords: Obesity; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; Food stamps; Intensive margin effects; National School Lunch Program; School Breakfast Program; Direct certification Rules (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 H53 I1 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Measuring Effects of Snap on Obesity at the Intensive Margin (2016)
Working Paper: Measuring Effects of SNAP on Obesity at the Intensive Margin (2016)
Working Paper: Measuring Effects of SNAP on Obesity at the Intensive Margin (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:31:y:2018:i:c:p:150-163

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2018.08.006

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