Volume 30, Number 4 (Fall) 1995
Fraker, Thomas M., Alberto P. Martini, and James C. Ohls. 1995. "The Effect of Food Stamp Cashout on Food Expenditures: An Assessment of the Findings from Four Demonstrations." Journal of Human Resources 30(4):633-649.
Using findings from four demonstrations, we examine estimates of the effect oh household food expenditures of converting food stamps into a cash transfer. We provide arguments for why the estimate provided by one of the demonstrations should be regarded as an outlier. The disparity in the difference-in-means estimates from the remaining three demonstrations is reduced when each is normalized by dividing by the average value benefits in the respective demonstration site. The normalized estimates imply a reduction in food expenditures of between 18 and 28 cents for each dollar of food stamps cashed out. At the aggregate level, these estimates imply that nationwide cashout would result in a reduction in household food spending of between 4.2 and 6.5 billion dollars, whereas the associated reduction in the cost of administering the Food Stamp Program would be about 0.3 billion dollars.
Thomas Fraker is a Senior Fellow and James Ohls is a Senior Fellow at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Alberto Martini is a Senior research Associate at the Urban Institute. The four evaluations on which this research is based were funded by the Food and Consumer Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under contracts with Abt Associates Inc., Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., and the Urban Institute. The conclusions and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, not the Food and Consumer Service. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning in June 1995 through June 1999 from Thomas Fraker, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Suite 550, Washington, DC 20024.
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