SNAP Authorization and Local Retailer Participation

We study how a major retailer’s adoption of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) influences the authorization decisions of other retailers in local markets. Exploiting Dollar General’s chain-wide SNAP adoption in 2004 and using a di↵erence-in-di↵erences design, we find that the number of other SNAP-authorized grocery stores increases by 15 percent, with event study estimates showing that the effects persist and grow over time. We find evidence for three mechanisms. First, individual SNAP enrollment increases following Dollar General’s adoption, expanding the customer base and making SNAP authorization more attractive to other retailers. Second, spillovers are larger in concentrated markets, consistent with strategic interdependence where firms face stronger incentives to respond to rivals’ SNAP adoption. Third, effects are stronger in counties with low initial SNAP coverage, where Dollar General’s adoption may reduce uncertainty about program viability or signal previously unmet demand to other retailers. These findings suggest that complementarities in retailers’ participation decisions can extend program access beyond directly treated firms and indicate that private market dynamics play an important role in the delivery of public assistance programs.