IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea16/236012.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Food Price Variation over the SNAP Benefit Cycle

Author

Listed:
  • Beatty, Timothy K.M.

Abstract

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest nutrition assistance program in the United States and is a vital part of the social safety net. The monthly lump-sum benefit distribution schedule has led to higher food expenditures and consumption shortly after the date of benefit receipt, and a diminishing food expenditures and associated food consumption pattern towards the end of the benefit month. This has been found to have adverse effects on beneficiaries' dietary outcomes. In this paper, we investigate food purchasing patterns of SNAP households over the month using data from the National Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS), a newly developed nationally representative survey, and its geographic component. We ask the research question: do SNAP recipients pay more for otherwise similar food at the beginning of the benefit cycle, and substitute less costly food as the month proceeds? We found that the unit cost of food bought declines significantly over the benefit cycle when households make purchases using SNAP benefits. Our results shed light on the optimal policy design of food assistance programs through a better understanding of program participants' food-purchasing behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Beatty, Timothy K.M., 2016. "Food Price Variation over the SNAP Benefit Cycle," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236012, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea16:236012
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.236012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/236012/files/Beatty_Cheng_Price_SNAP_cycle_AAEA_2016.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.236012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Parke E. Wilde & Christine K. Ranney, 2000. "The Monthly Food Stamp Cycle: Shooping Frequency and Food Intake Decisions in an Endogenous Switching Regression Framework," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(1), pages 200-213.
    2. Shapiro, Jesse M., 2005. "Is there a daily discount rate? Evidence from the food stamp nutrition cycle," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 303-325, February.
    3. Timothy K.M. Beatty, 2010. "Do the Poor Pay More for Food?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(3), pages 608-621.
    4. Justine Hastings & Ebonya Washington, 2010. "The First of the Month Effect: Consumer Behavior and Store Responses," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 142-162, May.
    5. David McKenzie & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2011. "Buying Less but Shopping More: The Use of Nonmarket Labor during a Crisis," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 1-43, January.
    6. Jessica E. Todd, 2015. "Revisiting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cycle of food intake: Investigating heterogeneity, diet quality, and a large boost in benefit amounts," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 437-458.
    7. Kaufman, Phillip R. & MacDonald, James M. & Lutz, Steve M. & Smallwood, David M., 1997. "Do the Poor Pay More for Food? Item Selection and Price Differences Affect Low-Income Household Food Costs," Agricultural Economic Reports 34065, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tal Gross & Timothy J. Layton & Daniel Prinz, 2022. "The Liquidity Sensitivity of Healthcare Consumption: Evidence from Social Security Payments," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 175-190, June.
    2. Timothy K. M. Beatty & Marianne P. Bitler & Xinzhe Huang Cheng & Cynthia van der Werf, 2019. "SNAP and Paycheck Cycles," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 18-48, July.
    3. Pourya Valizadeh & Travis A. Smith & Michele Ver Ploeg, 2021. "Do SNAP Households Pay Different Prices throughout the Benefit Month?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 1051-1075, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pourya Valizadeh & Travis A. Smith & Michele Ver Ploeg, 2021. "Do SNAP Households Pay Different Prices throughout the Benefit Month?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 1051-1075, September.
    2. Karen S Hamrick & Margaret Andrews, 2016. "SNAP Participants’ Eating Patterns over the Benefit Month: A Time Use Perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, July.
    3. Kuhn, Michael A., 2018. "Who feels the calorie crunch and when? The impact of school meals on cyclical food insecurity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 27-38.
    4. Jeffrey H Dorfman & Christian Gregory & Zhongyuan Liu & Ran Huo, 2019. "Re-Examining the SNAP Benefit Cycle Allowing for Heterogeneity," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 404-433.
    5. Irma Arteaga & Colleen Heflin & Leslie Hodges, 2018. "SNAP Benefits and Pregnancy-Related Emergency Room Visits," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(6), pages 1031-1052, December.
    6. Lee, Ji Yong & Nayga Jr, Rodolfo M. & Jo, Young & Restrepo, Brandon J., 2022. "Time use and eating patterns of SNAP participants over the benefit month," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    7. Todd, Jessica E. & Gregory, Christian, 2018. "Changes in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program real benefits and daily caloric intake among adults," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 111-120.
    8. Gassman-Pines, Anna & Bellows, Laura & Copeland, William E. & Hoyle, Rick H. & Odgers, Candice L., 2023. "Day-to-day variation in adolescent food insecurity," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    9. Heflin, Colleen & Arteaga, Irma & Hodges, Leslie & Ndashiyme, Jean Felix & Rabbitt, Matthew P., 2019. "SNAP benefits and childhood asthma," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 203-211.
    10. Michael A. Kuhn, 2021. "Electronic Benefit Transfer and Food Expenditure Cycles," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 744-773, June.
    11. Gibson, John & Kim, Bonggeun, 2013. "Do the urban poor face higher food prices? Evidence from Vietnam," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 193-203.
    12. Mary Zaki & Jessica E. Todd, 2023. "Price Consciousness at the Peak of “Impatience”," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(3), pages 1003-1027.
    13. Cotti, Chad D. & Gordanier, John M. & Ozturk, Orgul D., 2020. "Hunger pains? SNAP timing and emergency room visits," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    14. Marks, Mindy & Prina, Silvia & Gernhardt, Roy, 2023. "Government Shutdown and SNAP Disbursements: Effects on Household Expenditures," IZA Discussion Papers 16452, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Dahan, Momi & Sayag, Doron, 2024. "Scarcity and consumption priorities," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    16. Mika Akesaka & Peter Eibich & Chie Hanaoka & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2023. "Temporal Instability of Risk Preference among the Poor: Evidence from Payday Cycles," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 68-99, October.
    17. Tiehen, Laura & Newman, Constance & Kirlin, John A., 2017. "The Food-Spending Patterns of Households Participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Findings From USDA's FoodAPS," Economic Information Bulletin 262461, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    18. Timothy K. M. Beatty & Marianne P. Bitler & Xinzhe Huang Cheng & Cynthia van der Werf, 2019. "SNAP and Paycheck Cycles," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 18-48, July.
    19. Elena Castellari & Chad Cotti & John Gordanier & Orgul Ozturk, 2017. "Does the Timing of Food Stamp Distribution Matter? A Panel‐Data Analysis of Monthly Purchasing Patterns of US Households," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(11), pages 1380-1393, November.
    20. Almada, Lorenzo N. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2018. "Measuring effects of SNAP on obesity at the intensive margin," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 150-163.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Health Economics and Policy;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea16:236012. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.