IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/apecpp/v33y2011i3p304-344..html

The Relationship between Food Assistance and Health: A Review of the Literature and Empirical Strategies for Identifying Program Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Chad D. Meyerhoefer
  • Muzhe Yang

Abstract

There is a large and growing body of literature on the impact of food assistance programs on body weight and health. We review this literature in the context of an economic model of consumption and time allocations in order to elucidate the multiple pathways between food assistance and health. We then present a general empirical framework for comparing and contrasting different identification strategies, some of which have been used to evaluate food assistance programs, from the treatment effects literature. In addition to discussing the most widely used methods, we highlight recent advances that may be of interest to food assistance researchers.

Suggested Citation

  • Chad D. Meyerhoefer & Muzhe Yang, 2011. "The Relationship between Food Assistance and Health: A Review of the Literature and Empirical Strategies for Identifying Program Effects," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 33(3), pages 304-344.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:apecpp:v:33:y:2011:i:3:p:304-344.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aepp/ppr023
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Chien‐Yu Lai & John A List & Anya Samek, 2020. "Got Milk? Using Nudges to Reduce Consumption of Added Sugar," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 154-168, January.
    3. Fayaz Farkhad, Bita & Meyerhoefer, Chad D. & Dearden, James A., "undated". "The within-month pattern of medical utilization among SNAP participants," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258361, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Dharmasena, Senarath & Bessler, David A. & Capps, Oral, 2016. "Food environment in the United States as a complex economic system," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 163-175.
    5. Partha Deb & Christian A. Gregory, 2016. "Who Benefits Most from SNAP? A Study of Food Security and Food Spending," NBER Working Papers 22977, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Cho, Yongwon, "undated". "The Effect of the National School Lunch Program on Childhood Obesity," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150758, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Fayaz Farkhad, Bita & Meyerhoefer, Chad D., "undated". "The Impact of Participation in SNAP on Labor Force Decisions," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274180, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Gregory, Christian & Ver Ploeg, Michele & Andrews, Margaret & Coleman-Jensen, Alisha, "undated". "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation Leads to Modest Changes in Diet Quality," Economic Research Report 262225, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Maoyong Fan & Yanhong Jin, 2015. "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Childhood Obesity in the United States: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 1(4), pages 432-460, Fall.
    10. Moffitt, Robert A. & Ribar, David C., 2018. "Child age and gender differences in food security in a low-income U.S. inner-city population," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 23-41.
    11. Sadoff, Sally & Samek, Anya, 2019. "Can interventions affect commitment demand? A field experiment on food choice," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 90-109.
    12. Smith, Michael D. & Rabbitt, Matthew P. & Coleman- Jensen, Alisha, 2017. "Who are the World’s Food Insecure? New Evidence from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 402-412.
    13. Justine Hastings & Ryan Kessler & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2021. "The Effect of SNAP on the Composition of Purchased Foods: Evidence and Implications," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 277-315, August.
    14. Chen, Xuan & Liu, Yizao & Jaenicke, Edward C. & Rabinowitz, Adam N., 2019. "New concerns on caffeine consumption and the impact of potential regulations: The case of energy drinks," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Gregory, Christian A. & Deb, Partha, 2015. "Does SNAP improve your health?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 11-19.
    16. Cotti, Chad & Gordanier, John & Ozturk, Orgul, 2018. "When does it count? The timing of food stamp receipt and educational performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 40-50.
    17. Gregory, Christian & Deb, Partha, "undated". "Who Benefits Most from SNAP?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236648, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Chen, Xuan & Liu, Yizao & Jaenicke, Edward C. & Rabinowitz, Adam N., "undated". "The Added Caffeine, Health Concerns and Potential Regulations: The Case of Energy Drinks," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273853, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Cawley, John, 2015. "An economy of scales: A selective review of obesity's economic causes, consequences, and solutions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 244-268.
    20. Lentz, Erin C. & Barrett, Christopher B., 2013. "The economics and nutritional impacts of food assistance policies and programs," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 151-163.
    21. Colleen Heflin & James P. Ziliak, 2024. "Does the reference period matter when evaluating the effect of SNAP on food insecurity?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(4), pages 1268-1285, December.
    22. Smith, Michael D. & Kassa, Woubet & Winters, Paul, 2017. "Assessing food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 48-61.
    23. Chavas, Jean-Paul, 2013. "On the microeconomics of food and malnutrition under endogenous discounting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 80-96.
    24. Deb, Partha & Gregory, Christian A., 2018. "Heterogeneous impacts of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on food insecurity," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 55-60.
    25. Bergmans, Rachel S. & Berger, Lawrence M. & Palta, Mari & Robert, Stephanie A. & Ehrenthal, Deborah B. & Malecki, Kristen, 2018. "Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and maternal depressive symptoms: Moderation by program perception," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 1-8.

    More about this item

    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:oup:apecpp:v:33:y:2011:i:3:p:304-344.. 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: Oxford University Press (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.