The Effect of SNAP Receipt on Household Behavior and Well-being: Evidence and Economic Interpretation

补充营养援助计划（SNAP）是美国第二大经济状况调查计划。尽管它很重要，但它对家庭粮食支出、营养和福祉的影响仍存在很大的不确定性。该项目将使用来自政府和私人来源的新数据来衡量SNAP的这些影响，并为家庭行为的经济模型提供信息。该项目不仅将帮助政策制定者评估SNAP的现状，还将有助于评估拟议变更对该计划的福利水平和结构的潜在影响。该项目的研究结果将引起广大决策者、非营利组织和记者的兴趣。该项目将有助于培养学生在分析大规模数据和提供公共政策见解的前沿方法。调查人员将使用来自罗得岛州的综合行政数据和一家大型零售商的详细交易记录，研究接受SNAP福利对家庭行为和福祉的影响。该项目将开发和实施三种研究设计，用于估计SNAP收据的因果关系：基于精细计时的事件研究方法，基于认证期间计时的工具变量方法，以及基于立法变化的面板差异差异方法。该项目还将开发用于解释调查结果的经济模型。研究人员将撰写三篇学术文章，提交给同行评审的经济学期刊，并在学术研讨会和会议上发表，以及为更广泛的社区撰写执行摘要。第一篇文章将研究SNAP对食品支出的影响，并将对消费者选择理论产生影响。第二篇文章将研究SNAP对营养的影响，并将对家庭健康产生影响。第三篇文章将研究SNAP对家庭福祉行政指标的影响，并将对该方案在减轻贫困不良后果方面的有效性产生影响。

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the second-largest means-tested program in the US. Despite its importance, significant uncertainty remains about its effect on household food spending, nutrition, and well-being. This project will use new data from both government and private sources to measure these effects of SNAP and to inform economic models of household behavior. This project will not only help policymakers evaluate SNAP in its current state but will also contribute to evaluating the potential effect of proposed changes to the program's benefit levels and structure. The project's findings will be of interest to a broad community of policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and journalists. The project will contribute to the training of students in frontier methods for analyzing large-scale data and delivering insights for public policy.The investigators will use comprehensive administrative data from the state of Rhode Island and detailed transaction records from a major retailer to study the effect of receipt of SNAP benefits on household behavior and well-being. This project will develop and implement three research designs for estimating the causal effect of SNAP receipt: an event-study approach based on fine timing, an instrumental variables approach based on the timing of certification periods, and a panel differences-in-differences approach based on legislated changes in benefit levels. The project will also develop economic models for interpreting the findings. The investigators will produce three academic articles for submission to peer-reviewed journals in economics and for presentation at academic seminars and conferences, as well as executive summaries for a broader community. The first article will study the effect of SNAP on food spending and will develop implications for the theory of consumer choice. The second article will study the effect of SNAP on nutrition and will develop implications for family health. The third article will study the effect of SNAP on administrative indicators of household well-being and will develop implications for the effectiveness of the program in mitigating the adverse consequences of poverty.