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  3. Journal of Economic Perspectives
  4. Spring 1996
  5. Policy Watch: The Food Stamp Program and Welfare Reform

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Policy Watch: The Food Stamp Program and Welfare Reform

  • Betsey A. Kuhn
  • Pamela Allen Dunn
  • David Smallwood
  • Kenneth Hanson
  • Jim Blaylock
  • Stephen Vogel
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 10, no. 2, Spring 1996
(pp. 189–198)
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Abstract

Major changes have been proposed for the Food Stamp Program, including replacing the program with block grants to the states, cashing out the benefits, and reducing program funding from baseline levels. This paper will explore the impacts of food stamp reform on food spending, income support, welfare reform, agriculture, and the rest of the economy. A comprehensive set of scenarios is used to examine the potential economic consequences. The analysis shows that the effect of cashing out the Food Stamp Program can be as much as four times larger than the effects of program reduction alone.

Citation

Kuhn, Betsey A., Pamela Allen Dunn, David Smallwood, Kenneth Hanson, Jim Blaylock, and Stephen Vogel. 1996. "Policy Watch: The Food Stamp Program and Welfare Reform." Journal of Economic Perspectives 10 (2): 189–198. DOI: 10.1257/jep.10.2.189

JEL Classification

  • I38 Welfare and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs