Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Expanding Cash Welfare

99 Pages Posted: 18 Feb 2021 Last revised: 19 Jan 2022

See all articles by Matthew Freedman

Matthew Freedman

University of California, Irvine - Department of Economics

Yoonjung Kim

Department of Economics University of California Irvine

Date Written: January 2022

Abstract

We study the labor supply and consumption responses to cash assistance delivered through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Program in the United States. Exploiting a sharp increase in cash benefit generosity for low-income single-parent families in New Hampshire due to a legislative revision to payment calculations, we implement difference-in-differences and triple-differences to estimate the impacts of greater benefits on work behavior as well as on food expenditures and food security. Our results suggest that more generous cash assistance reduces labor supply among likely TANF-eligible individuals. At the same time, greater cash benefits increase household food spending and reduce the incidence of food insecurity. Our findings speak to individual and family responses to expanded cash assistance in an era in which cash welfare is at historically low levels, is time limited, and imposes work requirements.

Keywords: welfare, cash assistance, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, moral hazard, labor supply, redistribution, consumption, food security

JEL Classification: H53, H75, I38, J22

Suggested Citation

Freedman, Matthew and Kim, Yoonjung, Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Expanding Cash Welfare (January 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3778325 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3778325

Matthew Freedman (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine - Department of Economics ( email )

3151 Social Science Plaza
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
United States

Yoonjung Kim

Department of Economics University of California Irvine ( email )

3151 Social Science Plaza A, University of Califor
Irvine, CA 92617
United States

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