Food for Thought: Policy Effects of SNAP and Other Programs
Paper Session
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 12:30 PM - 2:15 PM (EST)
- Chair: Cristina Miller, U.S. Department of Agriculture
How Did Consumers Change Their Grocery Spending in Response to Changes in SNAP Benefit Generosity?
Abstract
Federally funded nutrition assistance programs are often the first line of defense against hunger for families. In recent years, a deep body of scholarship has documented that expanded state and federal nutrition programs between 2020 and 2021 reduced food insufficiency and poverty below pre-pandemic levels, largely using self-reported survey data. Using 21 waves of product-level food transaction data from 8,295 unique households between March 2020 to December 2022 (provided by Circana Consumer Network), we explore (1) to what extent SNAP households’ food spending (including the mix of foods they purchased, aggregate purchase amounts, and payment types used) shifted following the removal of SNAP emergency allotments (EAs), (2) if there were differences in household responses by race or family composition, and (3) if households spending responses were dynamic in the six months following policy removal. We use imputation difference-in-difference static and dynamic (event study) models using Borusyak et al. (2024)’s methodology to estimate policy impact. We test model assumptions using the Goodman-Bacon decomposition and test the robustness of impact estimates using Calloway and Santâ Anna, TWFE, and stacked difference-in-difference models. We find that households participating in SNAP reduced their aggregate food purchasing after SNAP EAs were removed. On average, total aggregate monthly grocery spending fell by nearly $13, or 4.6 percent, although Black-headed households and households with children experienced relative reductions twice as large. Dynamic models suggest that these declines in spending are sustained in the six months following policy removal. Despite reductions in aggregate purchases, consumers are inframarginal and don't decrease spending to fully compensate for the loss of SNAP benefits. Instead, SNAP households partially compensate by shifting to paying for groceries with cash (+15.1 percent) and/or credit cards (+24.1 percent).From Little Acorns, Mighty Oaks Grow: Early Life Exposure to Food Stamp and the Next Generation's Health
Abstract
This study investigates the intergenerational impacts of early life exposure to the Food Stamp Program (FSP) on infant health. Leveraging the staggered county-by-county rollout of FSP between 1964 and 1975, we link state-level exposure measures to nearly 56.3 million U.S. birth records from 1990-2020 in a difference-in-differences framework with the Sun & Abraham (2021) interaction weighted estimator. We find that maternal in utero and childhood exposure to FSP is associated with a 17.3 gram increase in birth weight and a 4.4 percent reduction in low birth weight among Black infants' effects that are robust across placebo tests, alternative exposure definitions, and migration restricted samples. In contrast, we observe no statistically significant impacts for White infants. Mechanism analysis shows that exposed mothers attain higher education levels, delay and better space childbirth, engage in healthier prenatal behaviors (e.g., reduced smoking and alcohol use), and receive more prenatal care, all of which contribute to improved next generation outcomes. These findings underscore the long run, multigenerational benefits of nutritional assistance programs and suggest that cost-benefit analyses should account for spillover effects on children's health and human capital formation.Effects of Fair Workweek Laws on Labor Market Outcomes
Abstract
This paper models fair workweek regulations that require employers to provide employees with (1) schedule predictability via advance notice of their work schedule and premium payments for short-notice changes, and (2) access to hours meaning they must offer open hours to existing employees before hiring new workers. We develop a theoretical model of employers’ responses to these provisions and their implications for employment. Guided by the model, we estimate the effects of recently-adopted fair workweek regulation in New York City's fast-food sector using a synthetic difference-in-differences design. We find a null employment effect.Discussant(s)
Christopher Barrett
,
Cornell University
Jason Zhao
,
Cornell University
Priyanka Anand
,
George Mason University
Erich Cromwell
,
EEOC
JEL Classifications
- I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
- J0 - General