How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel

Justine Hastings and Jesse Shapiro

No 23112, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We use a novel retail panel with detailed transaction records to study the effect of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on household spending. We use administrative data to motivate three approaches to causal inference. The marginal propensity to consume SNAP-eligible food (MPCF) out of SNAP benefits is 0.5 to 0.6. The MPCF out of cash is much smaller. These patterns obtain even for households for whom SNAP benefits are economically equivalent to cash because their benefits are below their food spending. Using a semiparametric framework, we reject the hypothesis that households respect the fungibility of money. A model with mental accounting can match the facts.

JEL-codes: D12 H31 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-01
Note: PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published as Justine Hastings & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2018. "How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel," American Economic Review, vol 108(12), pages 3493-3540.

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Journal Article: How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel (2018)
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