Alberto P. Martini

The Effect of Food Stamp Cashout on Food Expenditures: An Assessment of the Findings from Four Demonstrations

Using findings from four demonstrations, we examine estimates of the effect on household food expenditures of converting food stamps into a cash transfer. We provide arguments for why the estimate produced by one of the demonstrations should be regarded as an outlier. The disparity in the difference-in-means estimates from the remaining three demonstrations is reduced when each is normalized by dividing by the average value of benefits in the respective demonstration site. The normalized estimates imply a reduction in food expenditures of between 18 and 28 cents for each dollar of food stamps cashed out. At the aggregate level, these estimates imply that nationwide cashout would result in a reduction in household food spending of between 4.2 and 6.5 billion dollars, whereas the associated reduction in the cost of administering the Food Stamp Program would be about 0.3 billion dollars.

The Role of Survey Data in Microsimulation Models for Social Policy Analysis

Questions about the impact of social policies cannot be answered solely on the basis of official statistics made available in tabular format. The access to microdata allows policy analysts to answer these questions with a larger set of analytical tools, in particular microsimulation models. This paper examines the interface between survey data and microsimulation models. We review different types of microsimulation models (static and dynamic) and their data requirements. We then restrict the attention to survey-based microdata, and examine issues in survey design, questionnaire content, data quality, and dissemination policy that are important from the perspective of microsimulation. Copyright Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1997.