Working Paper: NBER ID: w21596
Authors: Lorenzo Almada; Ian M. McCarthy; Rusty Tchernis
Abstract: There is an increasing perception among policy makers that food stamp benefits contribute positively to adult obesity rates. We show that these results are heavily dependent on one's assumptions regarding the accuracy of reported food stamp participation. When allowing for misreporting, we find no evidence that SNAP participation significantly increases the probability of being obese or overweight among adults. Our results also highlight the inherent bias and inconsistency of common point estimates when ignoring misreporting, with treatment effects from instrumental variable methods exceeding the non-parametric upper bounds by over 200% in some cases.
Keywords: Food stamps; Obesity; SNAP; Misreporting; Econometrics
JEL Codes: C01; H4; I1; I28
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| misreporting of SNAP participation (H53) | overestimated treatment effects (C22) |
| SNAP participation (H53) | obesity (I12) |
| SNAP participation (H53) | no significant increase in obesity (I14) |
| standard IV estimates (C26) | overstate true effects (E65) |
| fixed effects IV model (C23) | exceed nonparametric bounds (C51) |