EFFECTS OF EBT CUSTOMER SERVICE WAIVERS ON FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Most State agencies are now using electronic benefits transfer (EBT) systems to issue food stamp benefits. To promote operational efficiency, some States have received waivers of certain rules governing EBT use. An exploratory study was conducted to ascertain the effects of these waivers on food stamp recipients. The results show that two of the waivers-those allowing recipients to select their own personal identification numbers and to receive EBT training by mail rather than in person-cause new food stamp recipients in waiver States to have more difficulties in using the electronic system than new recipients in nonwaiver States. Further, the difficulties are more apparent among the elderly or disabled. However, the problems tend to disappear as new users gain EBT experience. A third waiver, extending time for card replacement via mail, showed mixed benefits for recipients, most of whom prefer to pick up the card at a food stamp office. Perhaps the most important conclusion is that the customer service waivers do not affect recipient satisfaction with the EBT system; the high level of satisfaction that they expressed suggests that most problems with the waivers are either transitory or minor. The full report is available online. See Effects of EBT Customer Service Waivers on Food Stamp Recipients: Final Report, at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan02007EBT, new recipients, customer service, vulnerable subgroups, recipient satisfaction, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

ASSESSMENT OF WIC COST-CONTAINMENT PRACTICES; EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides both nutrition education and supplemental foods containing nutrients determined by nutritional research to be lacking in the diets of pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children. State WIC agencies have implemented practices designed to reduce the cost of food packages containing these prescribed foods. For instance, one of the WIC program's primary cost-saving practices is negotiating rebate contracts with manufacturers of infant formula. Additional practices include limiting authorized vendors to stores with lower food prices; limiting approved brands, package sizes, forms, or prices; and negotiating rebates with food manufacturers or suppliers. There is concern that these practices may inadvertently counter the program's goal of providing supplemental foods and nutrition education. Based on a review of cost-containment practices in six States, including interviews with the various stakeholders and analysis of WIC administrative files, the study draws three major conclusions: (1) costcontainment practices reduced average food package costs by 0.2 to 21.4 percent, depending on practices implemented and local conditions; (2) the cost-containment practices had few adverse outcomes for WIC participants; and (3) administrative costs of the practices were low, averaging about 1.5 percent of food package savings. The full report, Assessment of WIC Cost-Containment Practices: Final Report, is available online at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan03005.WIC Program, cost-containment, food-item restrictions, vendor restrictions, manufacturers' rebates, food package costs, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Rethinking the liquidity puzzle: application of a new measure of the economic money stock

Historically, attempts to solve the liquidity puzzle have focused on narrowly defined monetary aggregates, such as non-borrowed reserves, the monetary base, or M1. Many of these efforts have failed to find a short-term negative correlation between interest rates and monetary policy innovations. More recent research uses sophisticated macroeconomic and econometric modeling. However, little research has investigated the role measurement error plays in the liquidity puzzle, since in nearly every case, work investigating the liquidity puzzle has used one of the official monetary aggregates, which have been shown to exhibit significant measurement error. This paper examines the role that measurement error plays in the liquidity puzzle by (i) providing a theoretical framework explaining how the official simple-sum methodology can lead to a liquidity puzzle, and (ii) testing for the liquidity effect by estimating an unrestricted VAR.Liquidity Puzzle, Monetary Policy, Monetary Aggregation, Money Stock, Divisia Index Numbers

Toward a Bias Corrected Currency Equivalent Index

Measuring the economic stock of money, defined to be the present value of current and future monetary service flows, is a difficult asset pricing problem, because most monetary assets yield interest. Thus, an interest yielding monetary asset is a joint product: a durable good providing a monetary service flow and a financial asset yielding a return. The currency equivalent index provides an elegant solution, but it does so by making strong assumptions about expectations of future monetary service flows. These assumptions cause the currency equivalent index to exhibit significant downward bias. In this paper, we propose an extension to the currency equivalent index that will correct for a significant amount of this bias.Currency equivalent index, monetary aggregation, money stock

Letter, General John A. Logan to General William E. Strong, January 28, 1879

This handwritten letter, dated January 28, 1879, is written from General John A. Logan to General William E. Strong, both generals in the Union Army in the American Civil War. The letter is a friendly exchange. This letter was found tipped into volume seven, between pages 168-169 of Abraham Lincoln : A History by John G. Nicolay and John Hay.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/fvw-manuscripts-nicolay-and-hay-documents/1042/thumbnail.jp

Contributors to the January Issue/Notes

Notes by John J. Locher, W. A. Stewart, John H. Logan, John A. Berry, Albert J. Andreoni, Richard A. Molique, Robert B. Devine, and Joseph A. McCabe

Contributors to the January Issue/Notes

Notes by John J. Locher, W. A. Stewart, John H. Logan, John A. Berry, Albert J. Andreoni, Richard A. Molique, Robert B. Devine, and Joseph A. McCabe