Work incentives and the Food Stamp Program

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hoynes, Hilary Williamson; Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore
• 署名单位: Northwestern University; University of California System; University of California Davis; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.08.006
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 151-162
• 关键词: Welfare policy; labor supply

摘要

Labor supply theory makes strong predictions about how the introduction or expansion of a social welfare program impacts work effort. Although there is a large literature on the work incentive effects of AFDC and the EITC, relatively little is known about the work incentive effects of the Food Stamp Program and none of the existing literature is based on quasi-experimental methods. We use the cross-county introduction of the program in the 1960s and 1970s to estimate the impact of the program on the extensive and intensive margins of labor supply, earnings, and family cash income. Consistent with theory, we find reductions in employment and hours worked when food stamps are introduced. The reductions are concentrated among families headed by single woman. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.