SNAP and Food Expenditures: Evaluating California's Cash-out Policy

This paper investigates how Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility affects food expenditures. A 2019 policy change in California granted SNAP eligibility to previously ineligible Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients. Using the Consumer Expenditure Survey, we find that after the policy change, affected SSI recipients increased their ``food at home'' budget share between 2.5 to 4.3 percentage points ($120 to $206 per quarter). The SNAP effect on total food expenditures is dampened by a decrease in ``food away from home'' which SNAP benefits cannot be spent on.

本研究考察补充营养援助计划（Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP）资格对食品支出的影响。2019年加利福尼亚州推出一项政策调整，将此前不具备SNAP申领资格的补充保障收入（Supplemental Security Income, SSI）申领者纳入保障范畴。本研究采用消费者支出调查（Consumer Expenditure Survey）数据开展实证分析，结果显示：政策调整后，受影响的SSI申领者的“在家就餐”食品预算占比提升2.5至4.3个百分点（折合每季度120至206美元）。由于SNAP福利无法用于“在外就餐”类食品支出，该计划对食品总支出的提振效果因“在外就餐”食品支出的减少而被削弱。