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Do Food Stamps Contribute to Obesity in Low‐Income Women? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979
Author(s) -
Fan Maoyong
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.1093/ajae/aaq047
Subject(s) - national longitudinal surveys , food stamp program , overweight , obesity , body mass index , matching (statistics) , selection bias , propensity score matching , longitudinal study , estimator , psychology , demographic economics , food stamps , demography , economics , medicine , statistics , sociology , pathology , welfare , market economy , mathematics
This article estimates the effects of food stamp benefits on obesity, overweight and body mass index of low‐income women. My analysis differs from previous research in three aspects. First, we exploit a rich longitudinal dataset, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, to distinguish between full‐time and part‐time participation. Second, instead of making parametric assumptions on outcomes, we employ a variety of difference‐in‐difference matching estimators to control for selection bias. Third, we estimate both short‐term (one‐year participation) and long‐term (three‐year participation) treatment effects. We find little evidence that food stamps are responsible for obesity in female participants.