Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and food expenditures: Evaluating California's cash‐out policy

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and food expenditures: Evaluating California's cash‐out policy

This paper investigates how Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility affects food expenditures. A 2019 policy change in California granted SNAP eligibility to previously ineligible Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients. Using the Consumer Expenditure Survey, we find that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Contemporary economic policy Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 544 - 573
Main Authors: Hembre, Erik, McElroy, Katherine, Ohannessian, Shogher
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Huntington Beach Western Economic Association 01-07-2024
Subjects:
cash‐out
CEX
Disability allowances
Expenditures
Food
food consumption
in‐kind
Nutrition
Nutrition programs
Policy making
SNAP
SSI
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Summary:This paper investigates how Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility affects food expenditures. A 2019 policy change in California granted SNAP eligibility to previously ineligible Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients. Using the Consumer Expenditure Survey, we find that after the policy change, affected SSI recipients increased their “food at home” budget share between 2.5 and 4.3 percentage points ($120 to $206 per quarter). The SNAP effect on total food expenditures is dampened by a decrease in “food away from home” which SNAP benefits cannot be spent on.
ISSN:1074-3529
1465-7287
DOI:10.1111/coep.12650