Caroline Ratcliffe

How Much Does the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Reduce Food Insecurity

Nearly 15% of all U.S. households and 40% of near-poor households were food insecure in 2009. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the cornerstone of federal food assistance programs and serves as the first line of defense against food-related hardship. This paper measures the effectiveness of SNAP in reducing food insecurity using an instrumental variables approach to control for selection. Our results suggest that receipt of SNAP benefits reduces the likelihood of being food insecure by roughly 30% and reduces the likelihood of being very food insecure by 20%.

Effects of Food Stamp and TANF Policies on Food Stamp Receipt

This article uses data from the period between 1996 and 2003 to measure how the food stamp receipt of a low‐income population is affected by specific Food Stamp Program (FSP) policies, welfare policies, the minimum wage, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. It examines 27 specific program rules that are hypothesized to affect food stamp receipt. The results provide strong evidence that food stamp receipt increases with leniency of vehicle exemption policies, leniency of immigrant eligibility rules, length of recertification periods, and expansion of categorical eligibility. Findings also suggest that food stamp receipt is reduced by the use of biometric technology, which is employed in part to prevent fraud. In addition, the results provide some, but less consistent, evidence that the electronic benefit transfer program and outreach spending increase food stamp receipt.

Do Racial Disparities in Private Transfers Help Explain the Racial Wealth Gap? New Evidence From Longitudinal Data

How do private transfers differ by race and ethnicity, and do such differences explain the racial and ethnic disparity in wealth? Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study examines private transfers by race and ethnicity in the United States and explores a causal relationship between private transfers and wealth. Panel data and a family-level fixed-effect model are used to control for the endogeneity of private transfers. Private transfers in the form of financial support received and given from extended families and friends, as well as large gifts and inheritances, are examined. We find that African Americans and Hispanics (both immigrant and nonimmigrant) receive less in both types of private transfers than whites. Large gifts and inheritances, but not net financial support received, are related to wealth increases for African American and white families. Overall, we estimate that the African American shortfall in large gifts and inheritances accounts for 12 % of the white-black racial wealth gap.

Prohibitions, price caps, and disclosures: A look at state policies and alternative financial product use

This study uses nationally representative data from the 2009 National Financial Capability State-by-State Survey to examine the relationship between state-level alternative financial service (AFS) policies (prohibitions, price caps, disclosures) and consumer use of five AFS products: payday loans, auto title loans, pawn broker loans, refund anticipation loans, and rent-to-own transactions. Looking across products rather than at one product in isolation allows a focus on patterns and relationships across products. The results suggest that more stringent price caps and prohibitions are associated with lower product use and do not support the hypothesis that prohibitions and price caps on one AFS product lead consumers to use other AFS products.

The Effects of Welfare and IDA Program Rules on the Asset Holdings of Low-Income Families

This report examines the effects of a comprehensive set of 13 welfare, Food Stamp, individual development account (IDA), earned income tax credit (EITC), and minimum wage program rules on the asset holdings of low-education single mothers and families. This report finds empirical evidence that more lenient asset limits in means-tested programs and more generous IDA program rules may have positive effects on asset holdings of low-education single mothers and families.

Child Poverty and its Lasting Consequence

One in six newborns were born poor over the past 40 years, and nearly half remained poor half their childhoods. These persistently poor children are nearly 90 percent more likely than never-poor children to enter their 20s without completing high school and are four times more likely to give birth outside of marriage during their teenage years. Children whose parents did not complete high school are less likely to complete high school themselves. This paper examines the magnitude of child poverty, family characteristics related to childhood poverty persistence, and childhood poverty’s lasting consequences.

Welfare Program Performance: An Analysis of South Carolina's Family Independence Program

Public agencies are increasingly expected to track their performance according to established criteria—to be held accountable for the expenditure of public funds and show that funds are being used to achieve intended outcomes. This analysis of South Carolina’s Family Independence welfare program examines counties’ performance on five employment-related outcomes: employment rate, employment entry rate, employment retention rate, earnings gain rate, and earned income closure rate. Counties’ performance is statistically analyzed, adjusting for variation in external factors (e.g., labor market conditions and caseload characteristics) that influence program performance but that are outside the control of county program staff. This analysis shows that external factors influence employment-related performance, suggesting that states may want to vary counties’ goals based on external factors, rather than expecting all counties to meet the same performance level. This analysis provides an example of how agencies can apply statistical analysis to measure, track, and analyze program performance.

Private Transfers, Race, and Wealth

How do private transfers differ by race and ethnicity and do such differences explain the racial and ethnic disparity in wealth? Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study examines private transfers by race and ethnicity and explores a causal relationship between private transfers and wealth. We examine private transfers in the form of financial support received and given from extended families and friends, as well as large gifts and inheritances. Our findings highlight important differences in private transfers by race and ethnicity: African Americans and Hispanics (both immigrant and nonimmigrant) receive less in private transfers than non-Hispanic whites.

Weathering the storm: How have IDA homebuyers fared in the foreclosure crisis?

This study is the first to compare the homeownership outcomes of Individual Development Account (IDA) homebuyers with other low-income homebuyers. The IDA homebuyers purchased homes in 16 states with IDA funds between 1999 and 2007. We compare both loan terms and foreclosure outcomes for the IDA homebuyer sample to comparison groups of other low-income homebuyers who purchased homes in the same counties and during the same time period. We find that IDA homebuyers were more likely to receive government-insured loans and less likely to receive high interest rate or subprime loans than other low-income homebuyers. Further, we find that cumulative foreclosure rates for IDA homebuyers were one-half to one-third the rate for other low-income homebuyers in the same communities. Overall, the findings suggest that low-income IDA program participants have fared better in the foreclosure crisis than other low-income homebuyers.

Tax Time Account Direct Mail Pilot Evaluation

Millions of U.S. adults are unbanked and lack access to safe financial accounts. The MyAccountCard pilot program offered low-income adults a prepaid card account that could be used for electronic delivery of their tax refunds and everyday financial transactions. Key findings from the evaluation, designed to test different account features, include (1) the card account appealed most to its target population: likely unbanked individuals were three times more likely to take-up the card; (2) individuals are price sensitive: charging a monthly fee decreased card take-up by roughly 40 percent; and (3) the savings account as designed in this pilot was not perceived as valuable.