The effect of food stamps on food security: a panel data approach.

摘要

This study estimates the effect of Food Stamp Program (FSP) participation on food security in the USA, controlling for household-level "fixed effects" (constant unobserved factors that may influence both programme participation and measured food security). The data for this analysis come from the December 2001 and December 2002 food security supplements to the Current Population Survey. The fixed-effects approach reduces but does not eliminate the appearance of a positive association between FSP participation and food insecurity. The panel data models used in this study shed light on the nature of the confounding factors. It is suggested that the unobserved factors must be largely time-varying. Households do not come in constant "secure" and "insecure" varieties. Instead, it appears that unobserved hardships strike from time to time, with large effects on both programme participation and food security. These hardships are sufficiently severe to swamp the presumably beneficial direct effect of food stamps on food security..