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The Food Stamp Program and Food Insufficiency
Author(s) -
Gundersen Craig,
Oliveira Victor
Publication year - 2001
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 - 10.1111/0002-9092.00216
Subject(s) - food stamp program , food stamps , adverse selection , counterintuitive , selection (genetic algorithm) , environmental health , economics , medicine , actuarial science , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , market economy , welfare
Food stamp participants have higher food insufficiency rates than eligible nonparticipants, even after controlling for other factors. Given the Food Stamp Program's prominent role in the alleviation of hunger, this is a counterintuitive result. We conjecture that these higher rates are due to adverse selection insofar as households more likely to be food insufficient are also more likely to receive food stamps. We establish a theoretical framework to address this adverse selection. Using a simultaneous equation model with two probits, we show that once one controls for this adverse selection, food stamp recipients have the same probability of food insufficiency as nonrecipients.