The War On Fraud and Error in the Food Stamp Program

Georg E. Matt and Thomas D. Cook
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Georg E. Matt: San Diego State University
Thomas D. Cook: Northwestern University

Evaluation Review, 1993, vol. 17, issue 1, 4-26

Abstract: President Carter proclaimed a war on fraud and error in the food stamp program as part of a more general concern with the mismanagement of social programs. He succeeded in reversing the increase in the number of households classified as receiving both too many and too few food stamps, and he also increased the percentage of eligible households that actually received stamps. An even more visible war against fraud and abuse was pursued in the first Reagan administration. This resulted in a decrease in the number of cases being paid too much, but no such decrease in the number paid too little. The percentage of eligible households receiving food stamps also decreased, and there was a rapid increase in the number of fraud cases detected and prosecuted. However, conflicts emerged in the first Reagan term between federal and state governments about who should bear the financial costs of the war on error and fraud. The second Reagan term resulted in few changes in error and fraud compared to what was found at the end of his first term, and the level of rhetoric about "fraud and abuse" decreased markedly. However, the data available on fraud and abuse deal only with detected frauds. Hence we cannot say with any certainty whether fraud actually decreased m the food stamp program during either the Carter or the Reagan years.

Date: 1993
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:evarev:v:17:y:1993:i:1:p:4-26

DOI: 10.1177/0193841X9301700102

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