Poverty
Paper Session
Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM (EST)
- Chair: Peter Hans Matthews, Middlebury College
Food Hardship in the U.S. during the Pandemic: What Can We Learn from Real-Time Data?
Abstract
We study the potential effect of the declaration of the state of emergency, the beginning and end of the stay-at-home orders, and the one-off Economic Impact Payments on food hardship in the United States during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. We use daily data from Google Trends for the search term "foodbank" and document the development of a hunger crisis, as indicated by the number of individuals who need to locate a food pantry through the internet. The demand for charitable food handouts begins to decrease once families start receiving the stimulus payments, but the biggest fall comes when economic activity resumes after the lifting of the lockdown orders. Our estimates indicate that the increased need for emergency help among vulnerable families lasted for at least 10 weeks during the first wave of the pandemic, and we argue that real-time data can be useful in predicting such urgency.The Effect of Poverty on Corporal Punishment of Children
Abstract
Across and within countries there are large differences in how parents discipline their children. The short- and long-term effects of corporal punishment, defined as slapping or hitting a child, have been documented, but less is known about the causal effect of income shocks on corporal punishment. In this paper, we address this gap. We leverage the rollout of a cash transfer program in Peru and eligibility criteria for a pension program in South Africa to test whether relaxing the income constraint affects parental slapping or hitting of their children. We find high baseline levels of corporal punishment of children that are much more prevalent among less wealthy households. In both countries, we find that a positive income shock reduces corporal punishment of children by 20-40%. Our findings imply that if the negative effects of corporal punishment on children outweigh any corrective benefits, then alleviating income constraints would reduce the prevalence of the harshest physical forms of parenting discipline practices.Timing of Snap Disbursement and Crime Incidence in the U.S.
Abstract
The connection between poverty and crime is well observed yet understudied. Taking the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as an example, this study explores whether and how the timing of food assistance issuance affects crime incidence. Motivating analysis based on county-level evidence finds that the average food insecurity rate is 0.07-0.08 percentage points lower when the monthly benefit issuance period is stretched for an additional calendar day, which in turn leads to an average decline of approximately 1.4 crime incidents at the county level each year. However, this effect is very likely nonlinear. Using an extensive incident-based crime dataset, I estimate the reduced-form effect of SNAP benefit disbursement on crime incidence. Evidence from reporting agencies in 36 states during 2000-2017 suggests a significantly lower monthly crime count of instrumental crimes like theft, robbery and burglary when SNAP benefit issuance to recipient households is staggered across 15 to 21 days. Additionally, a disbursement schedule that starts from the first day of a month or consists of consecutive calendar days is likely to be associated with a higher incidence of instrumental crimes. The incidence of expressive violence, like property destruction incidents, is not much effected by changes to the state-level SNAP disbursement schedule. These results point to a moderately dispersed SNAP disbursement schedule, which does not collide with regular paycheck days, so as to deter instrumental crimes.Welfare Programs and the Time Allocation, Savings, and Child Quality of Single-Mother Families
Abstract
This paper studies the impact of anti-poverty programs in the United States on single mothers’ time allocation and savings behavior as well as their child development outcomes. I focus on single mothers because single mother families account for about 60 percent of all families with children living in poverty in the United States, and this group was the primary target of tax and welfare reforms during the 1990s. Welfare programs, such as TANF/AFDA and EITC, affect single mothers decisions along several dimensions: 1) whether or not to participate in the labor market; 2) whether or not to participate in welfare programs; 3) how much money and time to invest in childcare and thus affect children’s development; and 4) how much to save against health risks and retirement. I develop a dynamic life-cycle model in which single mothers make decisions about work, savings, participation in welfare programs, and investment of time and money in their children. A technology of skill formation maps these investments to child development outcomes. There is extensive literature empirically analyzing the effects of welfare reforms on children’s early development and the labor behavior of single mothers; however, little is known about their savings decisions against future uncertainties and retirement. To my knowledge, my paper is the first one to investigate the impact of welfare programs on single mothers’ time allocation, savings, and child development outcomes using a structural model. I estimate my model to match the observed life-cycle profiles of key observed behaviors from the PSID data and its Child Development Supplement data such as employment, savings, investment of time and money in their children. Further, I use my estimated model to conduct several welfare program reforms and evaluate their impact on mothers’ employment, welfare participation, and children’s development ) as well as their savings decisions.JEL Classifications
- I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty