Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). Both myself and my colleague Rob have written about the topic, and I think that once state programs have to start making adjustments, this is going to become an even bigger topic.
SNAP is one of the most important anti-poverty programs in the country. In addition to its anti-poverty impact, research has also shown that it has led to massive reductions in severe hunger and malnutrition. Looking beyond the most severe cases, we also know that SNAP has an impact on food insecurity.
Food insecurity is a topic that I think many people understand intuitively, but don’t understand formally. The Department of Agriculture defines the state of food insecurity as when “[a household’s] ability to acquire adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources,” but this doesn’t tell us how we actually determine if a household is food insecure. It’s not like the Poverty Line where there is a defined cutoff point for income. With data on a household’s income and the number of people in it, we can easily calculate if someone is considered in poverty.
Since we are interested in calculating consistent statistics over time instead of just feeling out what counts as food insecurity, USDA relies on survey questions as conducted in part with the Current Population Survey. The Current Population Survey along with the American Community Survey is one of the most important annual data collection programs run by the Census Bureau. While the American Community Survey has a larger sample size and provides us with good demographic data, the Current Population Survey is focused on getting a smaller number of people to answer a larger set of more detailed questions. That is why the CPS is used to get more precise labor market data, and includes supplements that enable researchers to ask questions about topics such as food insecurity.
To determine whether a household is food insecure or not, surveyors ask a series of 18 questions they are asked about their food habits. Questions like “‘We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more.’ Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?,” or “In the last 12 months, did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No).”
While the exact questions and thresholds depend on whether or not a household has children in it, the general rule is that if a household responds in the affirmative to 3 of these questions, then they are considered “food insecure.” If they respond in the affirmative to 6 of these questions (or 8 with children) then they are considered “very food insecure.”
Taken together, these measurement tools give us a consistent metric to use to track food insecurity over time and evaluate how different policies interact with household wellbeing. One thing we have learned from this research is that SNAP participation leads to reduced food insecurity.
SNAP doesn’t eliminate food hardship entirely, but it does make a big difference. Especially when we consider the more severe outcomes such as extreme hunger and malnutrition. As states adjust their programs in the coming years, this data will remain essential for understanding how policy choices translate into real changes in household food conditions.