TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hoynes,Hilary Williamson
AU  - Schanzenbach,Diane Whitmore
TI  - Work Incentives and the Food Stamp Program
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16198
PY  - 2010
Y2  - July 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16198
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16198.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
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  - Labor supply theory makes strong predictions about how the introduction of a social welfare program impacts work effort. Although there is a large literature on the work incentive effects of AFDC and the EITC, relatively little is known about the work incentive effects of the Food Stamp Program and none of the existing literature is based on quasi-experimental methods. We use the cross-county introduction of the program in the 1960s and 1970s to estimate the impact of the program on the extensive and intensive margins of labor supply, earnings, and family cash income. Consistent with theory, we find modest reductions in employment and hours worked when food stamps are introduced. The results are larger for single-parent families.
ER  -