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Improving the Assessment of SNAP Targeting Using Administrative Records

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  • Scherpf, Erik
  • Newman, Constance
  • Prell, Mark

Abstract

USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides food and nutrition benefits to low-income households based on a formula that adjusts the benefit amount a household receives based on monthly need. This study assesses the extent to which SNAP reaches the poorest households, also known as benefit targeting, by estimating benefit receipt by annual household income relative to poverty. To conduct this analysis, ERS linked 2008-12 SNAP administrative records from New York State to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), a primary source for national, State, and local information on the use of SNAP and other public assistance programs. The linked data provide better information on SNAP receipt than that which would be estimated by the ACS alone and permit a more complete characterization of SNAP targeting. Study findings show that the assessment of SNAP targeting varies by the three measures of benefit receipt examined. Estimates of SNAP targeting toward low-income households improve when using either of two measures of intensity of SNAP participation relative to measures of ever-in-the-year participation. Replacing survey-based data on SNAP benefit receipt with administrative records of SNAP benefit receipt and adjusting the survey households to more closely reflect administrative SNAP units also improves estimates of targeting to low-income participants. Finally, estimated program targeting is improved by removing sample households that do not report income and for which income is imputed in the survey from the analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Scherpf, Erik & Newman, Constance & Prell, Mark, 2015. "Improving the Assessment of SNAP Targeting Using Administrative Records," Economic Research Report 206417, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:206417
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.206417
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Newman, Constance & Scherpf, Erik, 2013. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Access at the State and County Levels: Evidence From Texas SNAP Administrative Records and the American Community Survey," Economic Research Report 262218, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Yonatan Ben-Shalom & Robert A. Moffitt & John Karl Scholz, "undated". "An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Anti-Poverty Programs in the United States," Mathematica Policy Research Reports cfc848ed6ab647bcb38ab47bb, Mathematica Policy Research.
    3. Congressional Budget Office, 2012. "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," Reports 43173, Congressional Budget Office.
    4. Bruce D. Meyer & Wallace K. C. Mok & James X. Sullivan, 2009. "The Under-Reporting of Transfers in Household Surveys: Its Nature and Consequences," Working Papers 0903, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
    5. Kelsey Farson Gray, 2014. "Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: Fiscal Year 2013," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 76ece7a812824260ae395b64d, Mathematica Policy Research.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rabbitt, Matthew P. & Hales, Laura J. & Burke, Michael P. & Coleman-Jensen, Alisha, 2023. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2022," Economic Research Report 338945, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Ismail, Mehreen & Wilde, Parke E. & Ver Ploeg, Michele L., 2018. "Household Structure and SNAP's Effect on Food Spending," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273902, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Rabbitt, Matthew & Gregory, Christian & Singh, Anita, 2022. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2021," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 2022(Economic ), September.
    4. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Rabbitt, Matthew & Gregory, Christian & Singh, Anita, 2022. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2021," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 2022(Economic ), September.
    5. Tiehen, Laura & Newman, Constance & Kirlin, John A., 2017. "The Food-Spending Patterns of Households Participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Findings From USDA's FoodAPS," Economic Information Bulletin 262461, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Rabbitt, Matthew P & Gregory, Christian A & Singh, Anita, 2021. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2020," Economic Research Report 327186, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Amy O’Hara & Rachel M. Shattuck & Robert M. Goerge, 2017. "Linking Federal Surveys with Administrative Data to Improve Research on Families," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 669(1), pages 63-74, January.
    8. Rabbitt, Matthew P. & Reed-Jones, Madeline & Hales, Laura J. & Burke, Michael P., 2024. "Household Food Security in the United States in 2023," Economic Research Report 344963, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

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    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; Public Economics;
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