From Paper to Plastic : How the Transition to Ebt Affected Snap Enrollment

We duplicate and then build upon Ganong and Liebman’s (2018, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy ) work documenting the effects of unemployment and state policies on enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly The Food Stamp Program). Using the same data and modeling approach, we add a variable for when a county transitioned from paper vouchers (“stamps”) to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. We find the transition to EBT increased SNAP enrollment by roughly 12 percent. Results are robust across several specifications