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Food Stamps and America’s Poorest

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  • Dean Jolliffe
  • Juan Margitic
  • Martin Ravallion

Abstract

The paper provides the first assessment of: (i) America’s progress in lifting the lower bound—the floor—of the distribution of real income; (ii) whether the country’s largest antipoverty program, SNAP (“food stamps”), helped do so. An operational method of estimating the floor is implemented on micro survey data spanning 30 years, with various robustness and significance tests. SNAP partially compensated the poorest, and helped stabilize the floor. Nonetheless, the floor has been sinking over the last 30 years. The efficiency of SNAP in lifting the floor has declined over time. Full coverage of the poorest would lift the floor appreciable.

Suggested Citation

  • Dean Jolliffe & Juan Margitic & Martin Ravallion, 2019. "Food Stamps and America’s Poorest," NBER Working Papers 26025, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26025
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Ravallion, 2020. "On the Origins of the Idea of Ending Poverty," NBER Working Papers 27808, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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