Income Support

and

Hunger in the United States

Imagine yourself living in poverty in Philadelphia.

You decide to look into food vouchers provided by the county.

Are you eligible?

• I am a single mother with 2 children. I immigrated to the US 3 years ago and make $2000 per month.

• I am a single male and make $1500 per month. I am in between jobs.

• My wife and I are 75 years old. We have worked and paid our taxes our whole lives and have owned the same 2 cars for decades. Now, we are too weak to work and have a depleting savings account. 

What can I buy with my vouchers?

• Basket 1: Wawa hoagie, gummy vitamins

• Basket 2: Toilet paper, cigarettes, red wine

• Basket 3: Cereal, apples, Monster energy drink

Supplemental
Nutritional

Assistance

Program
​

~46 million Americans participate

More than 658,000 in Philly region use program (hungercoaltion.org)

80% of recipients are in the workforce 

Average family receives between $16 and ~$500  per month

Reading 1: The Case Against In-Kind Transfers 

Judith Barmack, 1977

• Costs: 
  • Private: county payments to participants, travel expenses, stigma
  • Public: administration of program, clerical time, banking changes
• Benefits:
  • Private: success rates depend based on behavior, preferences
  • Public: social benefit, paternalism

Inequitable:

Inefficient:

Social Exclusion

Complex income formula

Reading 2: Consumption Responses to In-Kind Transfers Hoynes, Schanzenbach

Retrospective study to measure impact of FSPs from 1968-78

4 variables measured:

Use of food stamps 

Cash Inflow

Expenditure of 'eating in' 

Total food expenditure

Results:

Increased usage of food stamps

No significant change

No significant change

Large increase in consumption, esp.

using food stamps

Significance and Lasting Questions

• Have we solved the inefficiencies and inequities Barmack describes?

• What role does behavior and psychology play in the distribution of these vouchers?