IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersrr/7237.html

The Income Volatility See-Saw: Implications for School Lunch

Author

Listed:
  • Newman, Constance

Abstract

Income volatility challenges the effectiveness of the safety net that USDA food assistance programs provide low-income families. This study examines income volatility among households with children and the implications of volatility for eligibility in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The results show that income volatility was higher for successively lower income groups and that the major determinants of changes in NSLP eligibility were changes in total household hours worked and the share of working adults. Income volatility in two-thirds of lower income households caused one or more changes in their monthly NSLP eligibility during the year. An estimated 27 percent of households that were income eligible for subsidized lunches at the beginning of the school year were no longer income eligible for the same level of subsidy by December due to monthly income changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Newman, Constance, 2006. "The Income Volatility See-Saw: Implications for School Lunch," Economic Research Report 7237, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:7237
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7237
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7237/files/er060023.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.7237?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. Mary Jo Bane & David T. Ellwood, 1986. "Slipping into and out of Poverty: The Dynamics of Spells," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-23.
    2. Robert G. St. Pierre & Michael J. Puma, 1992. "Controlling federal expenditures in the national school lunch program: The relationship between changes in household eligibility and federal policy," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(1), pages 42-57.
    3. Jenkins, Stephen P, 1995. "Easy Estimation Methods for Discrete-Time Duration Models," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 57(1), pages 129-138, February.
    4. Ann Huff Stevens, 1999. "Climbing out of Poverty, Falling Back in: Measuring the Persistence of Poverty Over Multiple Spells," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(3), pages 557-588.
    5. Philip Gleason & Peter Schochet & Robert Moffitt, 1998. "The Dynamics of Food Stamp Program Participation in the Early 1990s," Mathematica Policy Research Reports ab95304cd2204323a950b50dd, Mathematica Policy Research.
    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. Dharmasena, Senarath & Ishdorj, Ariun & Capps, Oral, Jr. & Bessler, David A., 2014. "Dynamics of Macroeconomic Shocks on Food Assistance Programs in the United States," 2014 Annual Meeting, February 1-4, 2014, Dallas, Texas 162368, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    2. Monahan, Emma Kahle, 2020. "Income instability and child maltreatment: Exploring associations and mechanisms," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Brown, Alyssa, 2024. "Who takes up a free lunch? Summer Food Service Program availability and household grocery food spending," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    4. Daphne Hernandez & Kathleen Ziol-Guest, 2009. "Income Volatility and Family Structure Patterns: Association with Stability and Change in Food Stamp Program Participation," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 357-371, December.
    5. Neil Bania & Laura Leete, 2009. "Monthly household income volatility in the U.S., 1991/92 vs. 2002/03," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(3), pages 2100-2112.
    6. Oral Capps Jr., 2022. "Dynamics of macroeconomic factor effects on food assistance program participation in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(6), pages 1-34, June.
    7. Oliveira, Victor, "undated". "Informing Food and Nutrition Assistance Policy: 10 Years of Research at ERS," Miscellaneous Publications 262274, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    8. repec:pri:crcwel:wp08-06-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Todd, Jessica E. & Newman, Constance & Ver Ploeg, Michele, 2010. "Changing Participation in Food Assistance Programs Among Low-Income Children After Welfare Reform," Economic Research Report 58613, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Waehrer, Geetha & Deb, Partha & Decker, Sandra L., 2015. "Did the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act affect dietary intake of low-income individuals?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 170-183.
    11. Daphne C. Hernandez & Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest, 2008. "Family Structure and Income Volatility: Association with Food Stamp Program Participation," Working Papers 1018, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    12. Laura Leete & Neil Bania, 2010. "The effect of income shocks on food insufficiency," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 505-526, December.

    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. Glauben, Thomas & Herzfeld, Thomas & Wang, Xiaobing, 2006. "The Persistence of Poverty in Rural China: Applying an Ordered Probit and a Hazard Approach," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25249, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. José Arranz & Olga Cantó, 2012. "Measuring the effect of spell recurrence on poverty dynamics—evidence from Spain," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(2), pages 191-217, June.
    3. Andriopoulou, Eirini & Tsakloglou, Panos, 2011. "The Determinants of Poverty Transitions in Europe and the Role of Duration Dependence," IZA Discussion Papers 5692, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Marjan, MAES, 2008. "Poverty persistence among Belgian elderly in the transition from work to retirement : an empirical analysis," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2008042, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques.
    5. Francesco Devicienti & Valentina Gualtieri, 2007. "The Dynamics and Persistence of Poverty: Evidence from Italy," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 63, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    6. Francesco Devicienti, 2011. "Estimating poverty persistence in Britain," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 657-686, May.
    7. Bigsten, Arne & Shimeles, Abebe, 2008. "Poverty Transition and Persistence in Ethiopia: 1994-2004," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1559-1584, September.
    8. Maes, Marjan, 2008. "poverty persistence among belgian elderly: true or spurious?," Working Papers 2008/10, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    9. Jeff Larrimore & Jake Mortenson & David Splinter, 2020. "Presence and Persistence of Poverty in US Tax Data," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth, pages 383-409, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Nicolai Suppa, 2017. "Transitions in Poverty and Deprivations: An Analysis of Multidimensional Poverty Dynamics," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 894, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    11. FUSCO Alessio & ISLAM Nizamul, 2012. "Understanding the drivers of low income transitions in Luxembourg," LISER Working Paper Series 2012-31, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    12. Eric Akobeng, 2017. "Gross Capital Formation, Institutions and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 136-164, April.
    13. Francesco Devicienti & Valentina Gualtieri & Mariacristina Rossi, 2014. "The Persistence Of Income Poverty And Lifestyle Deprivation: Evidence From Italy," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 246-278, July.
    14. Thomas, Anne-Claire & Gaspart, Frédéric, 2015. "Does Poverty Trap Rural Malagasy Households?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 490-505.
    15. Pérez-Mayo, Jesús, 2009. "Un análisis dinámico de la privación en España /A Dynamic Analysis of Deprivation for Spain," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 27, pages 501-522, Agosto.
    16. Yu, ManSoo & Lombe, Margaret & Nebbitt, Von E., 2010. "Food stamp program participation, informal supports, household food security and child food security: A comparison of african american and caucasian households in poverty," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 767-773, May.
    17. Teresa Mauldin & Yoko Mimura, 2007. "Marrying, Unmarrying, and Poverty Dynamics among Mothers with Children Living at Home," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 566-582, December.
    18. Iryna Kyzyma & Donald R. Williams, 2017. "Public cash transfers and poverty dynamics in Europe," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 485-524, March.
    19. Nicolai Suppa, 2018. "Transitions in poverty and its deprivations," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 51(2), pages 235-258, August.
    20. Bina Gubhaju & Bryan Rodgers & Peter Butterworth & Lyndall Strazdins & Tanya Davidson, 2016. "Consistency and Continuity in Material and Psychosocial Adversity Among Australian Families with Young Children," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 35-57, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    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:uersrr:7237. 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/ersgvus.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.