On-the-Job Search, Minimum Wages, and Labor Market Outcomes in an Equilibrium Bargaining Framework

We look at the impact of a binding minimum wage on labor market outcomes and welfare distributions in a partial equilibrium model of matching and bargaining in the presence of on-the-job search. We use two different specifications of the Nash bargaining problem. In one, firms engage in a Bertrand competition for the services of an individual, as in Postel-Vinay and Robin (2002). In the other, firms do not engage in such competitions, and the outside option used in bargaining is always the value of unemployed search. We estimate both bargaining specifications using a Method of Simulated Moments estimator applied to data from a recent wave of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Even though individuals will be paid the minimum wage for a small proportion of their labor market careers, we find significant effects of the minimum wage on the ex ante value of labor market careers, particularly in the case of Bertrand competition between firms. An important futures goal of this research agenda is to develop tests capable of determining which bargaining framework is more consistent with observed patterns of turnover and wage change at the individual level.Minimum wage, On-the-job search, Renegotiation, Matching functions

SCHIP Children: How Long Do They Stay and Where Do They Go?

Presents findings on the length of children's enrollment in State Children's Health Insurance Programs and their coverage after they leave the program in seven states. Explores variations across states and how state policies may affect retention

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation and Local Program Outreach and Eligibility Services

Program outreach activities are integral components of social welfare programs, but the relationship between availability of outreach services and households’ program participation has not been examined due to lack of data on outreach efforts. This study uses a unique, nationally representative, matched household-agency data set of more than 21,000 households from 2009 to examine relationships between household participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and outreach and eligibility services offered by local agencies. When agencies provide applications to clients of emergency food pantries and submit their applications to SNAP administrative ofices, the probability of household participation in SNAP increases 5–6 percentage points

Food Security and Food Access Among Emergency Food Pantry Households

This study characterizes the food security and food access of households that receive food from emergency food pantries. Unlike other analyses of food access that focus exclusively on retail food stores, this study considers access to emergency food pantries as well. It finds that at least 50 percent of emergency food pantry households have access to a pantry and at least 45 percent of pantry households have access to a supermarket or superstore authorized to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits within 0.6 miles of where they live. The study also finds that food pantry households with greater access to emergency food pantries are less likely to be food insecure. The corresponding relationship of household food insecurity with access to retail food establishments is weak and not statistically significant. The relationship between access to emergency food pantries and household food security holds for many subgroups of interest to social welfare policy officials, including households with children and households with income below the Federal poverty threshold, but not the complements of these subgroups, such as households without children and households with income at or above the poverty threshold

Economic and Geographic Access to Food Retailers and Emergency Food Pantries

This study describes the environment in which low-income households acquire and purchase food by examining the local population characteristics of areas with and without emergency food pantries and by examining the locations of food pantries in relation to the retail food environment. We found that emergency pantries are located in areas (census tracts) in which individuals have low socioeconomic status and where there is high demand for services that pantries offer. About 25 percent of high-poverty areas without a retail food store have at least one pantry compared with 15 percent in all areas. Among high-poverty areas without supermarkets or superstores, 41 percent have at least one pantry. The study also finds that areas with one or more retail stores are more likely to have one or more pantries. Among retail store types, the relationship is strongest for convenience stores. The percentage of areas with at least one pantry increases from 22 percent in areas with no convenience stores to 44 percent in areas with more than one convenience store—a 22 percentage point increase. For supermarkets and superstores, this increase is about 12 percentage points—from 28 percent in areas with no supermarkets or superstores to 40 percent in areas with more than one store. Among areas with no stores, however, the percentage with at least one pantry is substantially higher in higher-poverty areas. Thus, while pantries and food retailers are located in similar areas, a sizable percentage of high-poverty areas with no stores have at least one pantry

Effects of Economic Conditions and Program Policy on State Food Stamp Program Caseloads, 2000 to 2006

This study uses a unique combination of State panel data and qualitative interviews to examine the economic and policy factors associated with the sharp increase in the number of Food Stamp Program (FSP) participants between 2000 and 2006. This period is particularly interesting because the rise in participation between 2003 and 2006 occurred while the national economy was improving. Higher numbers of participants were associated with higher State unemployment rates and lower State labor force participation rates and minimum wages. The introduction of FSP policies designed to expand eligibility and ease reporting also increased the number of participants. In addition, program outreach efforts were associated with higher caseloads in times of low unemployment. Interviews with State FSP administrators and staff at community-based organizations reinforce the quantitative findings and point to declining local economic conditions and high-quality program outreach as the main sources of caseload growth. The Food Stamp Program was renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in October 2008

Measuring the Effect of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation on Food Security

Excerpts from report: Mathematica Policy Research conducted the SNAP Food Security (SNAPFS) survey for FNS between October 2011 and September 2012, to assess the effect of SNAP participation on food security and food spending in the post-ARRA environment of higher SNAP allotments. SNAPFS was the largest survey of food security and food spending among SNAP participants to date, with 9,811 households interviewed in 30 States. This report presents the evaluation findings, which are based on a quasi-experimental design intended to minimize selection bias by comparing information collected from SNAP households within days of entering the program to information obtained after about six months of participation to control for factors unrelated to SNAP. The main objectives of the study were to: • Assess how household food security and food expenditures vary with SNAP participation • Examine how the relationships between SNAP and food security and between SNAP and food expenditures vary by key household characteristics and circumstances • Examine in more depth what factors may distinguish between food secure and food insecure SNAP households with children. This report contains the research findings for the first and second objectives. The third objective was based on a qualitative component of the study and was addressed in a separate report. The findings provide strong evidence that SNAP is associated with an improvement in food security. This evidence suggests SNAP is accomplishing one of its main goals, that of reducing food insecurity among low-income households