The Impact of Food Stamp Program on Relative Food Consumption and Food Choices

Author

Department of Economics, Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, Osmaniye, Turkey

Abstract

 





I





n this paper, the effects of the Food Stamp (FS) Program (now referred to as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-SNAP) on individuals’ food choices are evaluated. In other words, I examine how households' food choice or relative food consumption is changed by FS participation. For this purpose six food groups are created using 2016 Consumer Expenditure Diary Survey (CEDS) results and Consumer Price Index (CPI). Five of these food groups are food consumed at home which are bakery products, dairy products, meat and meat products, vegetables, and others. Also food consumed away from home is included as sixth group. Multinomial probit and conditional logit models are applied to analyze the data set. The analyses results show that FS can change individuals' food choices by decreasing the price effect on food since FS is a kind of income transfer which subsequently affects participants' price sensitivity. In addition, the results show that FSusage may increase the relative meat consumption of households and food consumed away from home in comparison to other food groups.
 

Keywords

References

Basiotis, P., Brown, M., Johnson, S. R., & Morgan, K. J. (1983). Nutrient Availability, Food Costs, and Food Stamps. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 65(4), 685-693.
 
Beatty, T. K., & Tuttle, C. J. (2014). Expenditure Response to Increases in In-kind Transfers: Evidence from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 97(2), 390-404.
Cameron, A. C., & Trivedi, P. K. (2005). Microeconometrics: Methods and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guneysu Atasoy, F. (2018). How Food Stamp Usage Impact on BMI: A Quantile Regression Approach. International Journal Of Research In Technology And Management, 4(4), 1-5. 
Guthrie, J. F., Frazão, E., Andrews, M., & Smallwood, D. (2007). Improving Food Choices-can Food Stamps Do More? Amber Waves, 5, 46-47.
Huang, C. L., Fletcher, S. M., & Raunikar, R. (1981). Modeling the Effects of the Food Stamp Program on Participating Households' Purchases: An Empirical Application. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 13(2), 21-28.
Kabbani, N. S., & Kmeid, M. Y. (2005). The Role of Food Assistance in Helping Food Insecure Households Escape Hunger. Review of Agricultural Economics, 27(3), 439-445.
Kreider, B., Pepper, J., Gundersen, C., & Jolliffe, D. (2009). Identifying the Effects of Food Stamps on Child Health Outcomes when Participation Is Endogenous and Misreported. Staff General Research Papers, Retrived from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.564.3885&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
Larson, N., & Story, M. (2009). A Review of Environmental Influences on Food Choices. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 38(1), 56-73.
Mykerezi, E., & Mills, B. (2010). The Impact of Food Stamp Program Participation on Household Food Insecurity. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 92(5), 1379-1391.
Ratcliffe, C., McKernan, S. M., & Zhang, S. (2011). How Much Does the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Reduce Food Insecurity? American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 93(4), 1082-1098.
Wiig, K., & Smith, C. (2009). The Art of Grocery Shopping on a Food Stamp Budget: Factors Influencing the Food Choices of Low-income Women as they Try to Make Ends Meet. Public Health Nutrition, 12(10), 1726-1734.
Wilde, P. E., & Ranney, C. K. (2000). The Monthly Food Stamp Cycle: Shooping Frequency and Food Intake Decisions in An Endogenous Switching Regression Framework. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 82(1), 200-213.
Wiig, K., & Smith, C. (2009). The Art of Grocery Shopping on a Food Stamp Budget: Factors Influencing the Food Choices of Low-income Women as They Try to Make Ends Meet. Public Health Nutrition, 12(10), 1726-1734.
Iranian Economic Review
Volume 22, Issue 4
October 2018
Pages 1138-1148

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics