IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v140y2026ics0306919226000370.html

Introducing a national in-kind food assistance program: evidence from an experiment in Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Sanghyo
  • Kim, Yong Jee
  • Lee, Ji Yong

Abstract

This study introduces a food assistance program of South Korea, named the Food Voucher Program (FVP), and analyzes the program’s impact on food expenditure and consumption consistency across the weeks of the benefit month using a randomized field experiment. Using diary-based household expenditure data obtained from its 2022 pilot experiment, the marginal propensity to consume foods is estimated at 35.1%, which is slightly lower than its US counterpart, SNAP. The study also finds that the FVP positively influences the smoothing of intertemporal food consumption among lower-income households. The findings from this research provide valuable insights that could guide the development and implementation of comparable food assistance programs in other countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Sanghyo & Kim, Yong Jee & Lee, Ji Yong, 2026. "Introducing a national in-kind food assistance program: evidence from an experiment in Korea," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:140:y:2026:i:c:s0306919226000370
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2026.103070
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919226000370
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2026.103070?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    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:eee:jfpoli:v:140:y:2026:i:c:s0306919226000370. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    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.