How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel
How Are SNAP Benefits Spent? Evidence from a Retail Panel
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DOI：
10.1257/aer.20170866
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发表时间：
2018-12-01
影响因子：
10.7
通讯作者：
Shapiro, Jesse M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hastings, Justine;Shapiro, Jesse M.
我们使用一个新的零售面板，详细的交易记录，研究补充营养援助计划（SNAP）对家庭支出的影响。我们使用行政数据来激励三种因果推理方法。从SNAP福利中消费SNAP合格食品（MPCF）的边际倾向为0.5至0.6。MPCF的现金少得多。这些模式甚至适用于SNAP福利在经济上等同于现金的家庭，因为他们的福利低于他们的食品支出。使用半参数框架，我们拒绝假设家庭尊重货币的可替代性。一个有心理账户的模型可以与事实相匹配。
We use a novel retail panel with detailed transaction records to study the effect of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on household spending. We use administrative data to motivate three approaches to causal inference. The marginal propensity to consume SNAP-eligible food (MPCF) out of SNAP benefits is 0.5 to 0.6. The MPCF out of cash is much smaller. These patterns obtain even for households for whom SNAP benefits are economically equivalent to cash because their benefits are below their food spending. Using a semiparametric framework, we reject the hypothesis that households respect the fungibility of money. A model with mental accounting can match the facts.