Household Consumption Responses to SNAP Participation

Obesity is inordinately prevalent among food insecure households in the US. Some researchers have identified the consumption of unhealthy food a major source of this seemingly paradoxical relationship. One of the goals of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is to encourage healthy eating behavior among low-income households. However, literature lacks conclusive evidence for the success of the program in achieving that goal. This paper exploits an underutilized source of variation, the early-2000s recession in the US, to determine the impact of SNAP participation on household Food Away From Home (FAFH) expenditures. A Difference in Difference model is constructed using high post-recession growth in SNAP caseloads as treatment. The results show that households in the treatment cohort significantly decrease consumption of FAFH relative to households in the control group. This provides evidence that SNAP participation leads households to make healthier eating choices