Venue: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708-0120

 

Presentation

The Impact of the Food Stamp Program on Infant Outcomes

Authors:

Presenter: Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (University of Chicago )

Discussant: Ted Joyce (City University, New York)

Session: Public Policy & Infant/Child Health

Room: Classroom A

When: Tuesday 10:30 a.m. - noon

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 a new FSP three months prior to birth yielded deliveries with increased birth weight. Estimated impacts are robust to inclusion of county fixed effects, measures of other federal transfer spending, and time effects (among them county-specific time trends). We conclude that Food Stamps improved birth outcomes for both Whites and African Americans, with larger impacts for births to African American mothers.