TY  - JOUR
AU  - Almond,Douglas
AU  - Hoynes,Hilary W.
AU  - Schanzenbach,Diane Whitmore
TI  - Inside the War on Poverty: The Impact of Food Stamps on Birth Outcomes
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14306
PY  - 2008
Y2  - September 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14306
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14306.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Douglas Almond
Department of Economics
Columbia University
International Affairs Building, MC 3308
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212/854-7248
Fax: 212/854-3239
E-Mail: da2152@columbia.edu

Hilary W. Hoynes
Department of Economics
University of California, Davis
One Shields Ave.
Davis, CA  95616-8578
Tel: 530/564-0505
Fax: 530/752-9382
E-Mail: hwhoynes@ucdavis.edu

Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
School of Education and Social Policy
Northwestern University
Annenberg Hall, Room 205
2120 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Tel: 847/491-3884
E-Mail: dws@northwestern.edu
AB  - This paper evaluates the health impact of a signature initiative of the War on Poverty: the roll out of the modern Food Stamp Program (FSP) during the 1960s and early 1970s. Using variation in the month the FSP began operating in each U.S. county, we find that pregnancies exposed to the FSP three months prior to birth yielded deliveries with increased birth weight, with the largest gains at the lowest birth weights. These impacts are evident with difference-in-difference models and event study analyses. Estimated impacts are robust to inclusion of county fixed effects, time fixed effects, measures of other federal transfer spending, state by year fixed effects, and county-specific linear time trends. We also find that the FSP rollout leads to small, but statistically insignificant, improvements in neonatal infant mortality. We conclude that the sizeable increase in income from Food Stamp benefits improved birth outcomes for both whites and African Americans, with larger impacts for births to African American mothers.
ER  -