Working for Your Bread: The Labor Supply Effects of SNAP
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 111,
May 2021
(pp. 496-500)
Abstract
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the only universal US means-tested safety net program, has a low benefit-reduction rate. Thus, many SNAP recipients are working. We apply recent methods to study whether there is evidence of moral hazard among SNAP recipients. We see if individuals respond to incentives in SNAP eligibility by bunching near kink points in the budget set. While this responsiveness has been shown for various taxes and tax credits, little work has examined responsiveness of safety net program participants to kinks in their eligibility formulae. We use novel administrative data on eligibility determination and find little evidence of responsiveness around these kinks.Citation
Bitler, Marianne, Jason Cook, and Jonathan Rothbaum. 2021. "Working for Your Bread: The Labor Supply Effects of SNAP." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 111: 496-500. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20211094Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- H53 National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- H31 Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household
- H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes