Economic Analysis of the Food Stamp Plan

Excerpts from the report: The study here reported shows that farmers, low-income consumers, and food dealers would all benefit substantially from an expansion of the Food Stamp Plan. If the plan were made available to all relief and Work Projects Administration families in the United States, the cost to the Federal Treasury would be about 400 million dollars a year. A plan of this size would be very effective in moving surplus foods into consumption and in improving the diets of low-income families. The authors believe that a 400-million-dollar annual subsidy for a National Food Stamp Plan could increase the income of farmers by at least the amount of the subsidy, and possibly somewhat more. These findings do not mean that the Food Stamp Plan is necessarily a substitute for other methods of farm relief nor that it should be considered to the exclusion of other methods of domestic surplus disposal, such as the school-lunch program and the Direct Purchase and Distribution Program. The report shows that in some respects full benefits of the plan were not being realized in the early stages of its operation and suggests some possibilities for improvement. On the whole, however, the plan seems to be working satisfactorily from the standpoint of all groups concerned, and a number of changes have been made to improve its operation.