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The Monthly Food Stamp Cycle: Shopping Frequency and Food Intake Decisions in an Endogenous Switching Regression Framework
Author(s) -
Wilde Parke E.,
Ranney Christine K.
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1111/0002-9092.00016
Subject(s) - food stamps , food intake , food stamp program , agricultural economics , economics , affect (linguistics) , business , econometrics , marketing , psychology , welfare , medicine , communication , market economy
Mean food spending by food stamp households peaks sharply in the first three days after benefits are received. For those who conduct major grocery shopping trips only once per month (42% of all food stamp households), mean food energy intake drops significantly by the fourth week of the month. For the remaining households, intake remains steady over the course of the month. These patterns motivate an empirical model that simultaneously accounts for the shopping frequency and food intake decisions over time. Results have implications for policies that may affect the frequency of grocery shopping by food stamp households.