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Food Stamp Benefits and Child Poverty
Author(s) -
Jolliffe Dean,
Gundersen Craig,
Tiehen Laura,
Winicki Joshua
Publication year - 2005
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/j.1467-8276.2005.00748.x
Subject(s) - poverty , food stamps , food stamp program , current population survey , safety net , food insecurity , population , poverty level , economics , demographic economics , socioeconomics , agricultural economics , business , economic growth , food security , geography , environmental health , welfare , medicine , market economy , agriculture , archaeology
In 2000, 8.8 million children lived in households participating in the Food Stamp Program, making this assistance program a crucial component of the social safety net. Despite its importance, little research has examined food stamps' effect on children's overall well‐being. Using the Current Population Survey from 1989 to 2001, we consider the impact of food stamps on three measures of poverty—the headcount, the poverty gap, and the squared poverty gap. We find that in comparison to the headcount measure, food stamp benefits lead to large reductions in the poverty gap and squared poverty gap measures.