It's a Cruel Summer: Household Responses to Reductions in Government Nutrition Assistance / Lorenzo Almada, Ian McCarthy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Almada, Lorenzo.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

McCarthy, Ian.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w23633.

NBER working paper series no. w23633

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

It's a Cruel Summer

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2017.

Summary:

The appropriate size and scope of government nutrition assistance programs is a regular source of debate among policy-makers, and with calls to reduce government benefits, a clear understanding of household responses to any proposed benefit reduction is critical. Exploiting the design of U.S. nutrition assistance programs, we examine how low-income households reallocate their budgets following an exogenous reduction in nutrition assistance benefits. The magnitude of our results suggests that the budget for an average low-income household with children is severely inflexible and likely unable to absorb more than a $2 to $3 reduction in nutrition benefits per child per week.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2017.