Dr. Marianne Bitler, University of California, Davis
Seminar Title: “Long-Run Effects of Food Assistance: Evidence from the Food Stamp Program”
Abstract:
Over the last decade, a body of work studying the rollout of the safety net in the U.S. with a focus
in particular on programs which were created or greatly expanded during the War on Poverty |has given
us evidence about short-run and particularly long-run positive effects of these programs. In particular,
papers focused on the rollout of the Food Stamp Program compare outcomes in counties where the
program was implemented earlier versus later, controlling for national shocks and time-invariant
differences across locations (e.g., Hoynes, Schanzenbach, and Almond, 2016). We take advantage of this
same variation in the timing of Food Stamp adoption and combine it with rich administrative data on
earnings and involvement with the Social Security Disability Insurance program (SSDI) from the
Continuous Work History Sample. Thus, our key independent variable is the share of time an adult was
exposed to the Food Stamp Program from conception through age 5. Our dependent variables are
administrative measures of earnings and involvement with the SSDI system. These administrative panel
data are available for people whose Social Security Numbers are a one percent sample of Social Security
Numbers ever issued. Restricting ourselves to natives born between 1955 and 1980 where we can link
their place of birth to the data on the rollout of food stamps, we have a sample of nearly 1 million
individuals. We model outcomes as a function of dummy variables for year of birth, county of birth,
for being white, and where relevant, for age, and stratify by gender. For women, living in a county where
Food Stamps were available for the entire time from conception to age 5 leads to an increase in total
earnings of around 3% at age 32. Effects for men are more varied. There is no impact on use of the SSDI
system for either gender across their life cycle. These findings suggests important positive long-run
effects of the Food Stamp Program.
Monday, Feb 4th, 2019
2:30pm-4:00pm
Location: Oak 337
View the full Spring 2019 ARE Seminar Schedule
For more information, contact: Tatiana Andreyeva at tatiana.andreyeva@uconn.edu