Is the Social Safety Net a Long-Term Investment? Large-Scale Evidence From the Food Stamps Program
Is the Social Safety Net a Long-Term Investment? Large-Scale Evidence From the Food Stamps Program
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DOI：
10.1093/restud/rdad063
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发表时间：
2023-06-08
影响因子：
5.8
通讯作者：
Walker, Reed
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bailey, Marthaj J.;Hoynes, Hilary;Walker, Reed
我们使用1750万美国人的新的大规模数据来研究政策驱动的经济资源增加如何影响儿童的长期结果。使用2000年人口普查和2001-13年美国社区调查与社会保障局的NUMIDENT，我们利用县级推出的食品券计划在1961年和1975年之间。我们发现，在五岁之前获得更多经济资源的儿童在成年后会有更好的结果。治疗对治疗的效果显示，人力资本的标准差提高了6%，经济自给自足的标准差提高了3%，居住区质量的标准差提高了8%，预期寿命增加了1.2年，被监禁的可能性降低了0.5个百分点。这些估计数表明，粮食券向家庭转移资源是对幼儿的一项成本效益很高的投资，产生的公共资金边际价值约为62%。
We use novel, large-scale data on 17.5 million Americans to study how a policy-driven increase in economic resources affects children's long-term outcomes. Using the 2000 Census and 2001-13 American Community Survey linked to the Social Security Administration's NUMIDENT, we leverage the county-level rollout of the Food Stamps program between 1961 and 1975. We find that children with access to greater economic resources before age five have better outcomes as adults. The treatment-on-the-treated effects show a 6% of a standard deviation improvement in human capital, 3% of a standard deviation increase in economic self-sufficiency, 8% of a standard deviation increase in the quality of neighbourhood of residence, a 1.2-year increase in life expectancy, and a 0.5 percentage-point decrease in likelihood of being incarcerated. These estimates suggest that Food Stamps' transfer of resources to families is a highly cost-effective investment in young children, yielding a marginal value of public funds of approximately sixty-two.