Download Learning What Works in Educational Technology with a Case Study

The Safety Net: An Investment in Children
Overview of current
economic context &
recent academic
research
Much of today’s talk drawn from
Hamilton Project document I
coauthored last year.
1.
In 2015 almost one in five households with children
were food-insecure.
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Children
Senior Citizens
All
Food insecurity spiked, even conditional on
income
2.
In nine states, one in four children lives
in a food-insecure households
3.
About 85 percent of food-insecure households with
children are headed by adults who work.
4.
Households with a teenager are more likely to
experience very low food security.
5.
Annual snapshots mask the extent of the food
insecurity problem.
6.
One third of food-insecure households have annual
incomes of at least two times the federal poverty level.
Lower-income have less slack in their budget
Lower-income have been losing ground
Lower-income spending more on basic needs over
time
7.
The social safety net lifts tens of millions of people
out of poverty.
Long-Term Impacts of
Childhood Access to
SNAP
Use initial rollout of the
FSP (1961-1975) to
examine effects of
program
4 studies:
Consumption
Labor supply
Birth outcomes
Long-term impacts
Measuring Long-term Impacts
Metabolic
Syndrome
Obese (=1)
High blood pressure (=1)
Diabetes (=1)
Heart disease (=1)
Heart attack (=1)
Economic selfsufficiency
High school graduate (=1)
Employed (=1)
Not poor (=1)
Not on TANF (=1)
Not on food stamps (=1)
Earnings
Family income
8. SNAP investments have long-term payoffs.
Timing matters: Early investments have larger
payoff for health (only)
SNAP investments have shorter-term payoffs:
Variation from loss of immigrant access
Health status
Bad health
Hospitalized
0
-0.1
-0.031
-0.036
-0.015
-0.016
Days absent
0
-0.003
-0.101
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.464
All children
Hispanic children
9.
Nutrition programs vary in their reach
to low-income households.
11.
Summer nutrition benefits can substantially reduce
very low food security.
How would food consumption change with more
resources?
12.
Beyond food security, SNAP improves households’
financial well-being.
SNAP benefits are good for the macro economy
Block granting SNAP would undermine automatic fiscal stabilizer