TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kaushal, Neeraj
AU  - Gao, Qin
TI  - Food Stamp Program and Consumption Choices
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14988
PY  - 2009
Y2  - May 2009
DO  - 10.3386/w14988
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14988
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14988.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Neeraj Kaushal
Columbia University
School of Social Work
1255 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212/851-2235
Fax: 212/851-2204
E-Mail: nk464@columbia.edu

Qin Gao
Fordham University 
Graduate School of Social Service
113 West 60th Street
New York, New York-10023
Tel: 212-636-6638
Fax: 212-636-7876
E-Mail: aqigao@fordham.edu
M1  - published as Neeraj Kaushal, Qin Gao. "Food Stamp Program and Consumption Choices," in Michael Grossman and Naci H. Mocan, editors, "Economic Aspects of Obesity" University of Chicago Press (2011)

M3  - presented at "Economic Aspects of Obesity", November 10-11, 2008
AB  - 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.
ER  -