Dose-response of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit amount on diet across the month

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program administered by states that aims to support a sufficient and healthful diet for low-income Americans. SNAP is an in-kind benefit program that provides funds that can be spent on any food or beverages for consumption at home except alcohol and tobacco. Since SNAP is distributed in a lump sum on a monthly basis, there is an accumulating literature focusing on the experience of SNAP recipients across the monthly SNAP fund disbursement cycle. Existing literature on the SNAP monthly benefit cycle suggests that the program is most effective at the start of the month. The majority of benefits are utilized at the beginning of the month, particularly among those who conduct major grocery shopping only once per month – 42 percent of all food stamp households. Both caloric intake and the cost of food consumed decrease across the food stamp month. The dietary trend across the SNAP cycle seems to be driven by both short-run time preferences and income fungibility.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is a stimulus plan passed in response to the Great Recession that, among other supports, provided funding for temporary increases to SNAP household benefits levels. On average, the ARRA increased monthly per-person SNAP benefits at the start of the stimulus in April 2009 by $23, then by $31 starting the following year. The real increase in benefit levels diminished over time, and in October 2013 decreased by $9 per person. Previous work has found that after the increase in SNAP benefits due to the ARRA: (1) food insecurity decreases, (2) total household food budget increases, and (3) caloric intake smoothes across the month, compared with a 25 percent decrease in calories towards the end of the month prior to the ARRA.

My preliminary work suggests that at the end of the ARRA, when benefits decrease, caloric intake decreases towards the end of the monthly SNAP cycle, and findings will provide insight into the effects of differing benefit levels. This study continues assessing the ability of SNAP recipients to smooth consumption across the month by examining whether there is a dose response in terms of caloric intake and dietary quality to each additional dollar received using a difference-in-difference framework with an interaction between SNAP benefit amount and time since benefit receipt. Analyses use variation in benefit amount due to (1) changes to maximum benefit amounts in real and nominal terms across ARRA and (2) differences in benefit calculation rules across states.

This research is, to my knowledge, the first to examine the effects of the SNAP benefit amount in the context of both an increase and a decrease in dollar amount due to the same legislation, as well as the first to assess the effects of benefit amount across the month. Findings have potential to inform decisions to better support low-income families in maintaining a sufficient, healthy diet for prevention of obesity and chronic disease as well as support for economic well-being.