The Effect of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Food and Nonfood Spending Among Low-Income Households

The main goal of this was to examine the impact of the SNAP program on the allocation of food and nonfood spending expenditures across six subgroups: food, utilities, apparel, transportation, medical care, and other nonfood spending. The empirical analysis is conducted using a consumer demand approach instead of the traditional Engel curve approach used to evaluate the effect of SNAP participation on household spending. Endogeneity and measurement error of the SNAP participation variable and endogeneity of total expenditures are accounted for with the use of specialized econometric procedures.