James C. Ohls

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 effect of zoning on land value

Two types of zoning are identified: externality zoning, which is designed to achieve a Pareto efficient pattern of land use, and fiscal zoning, which is designed to accomplish some other objective. (The latter, for instance, may be aimed at minimizing the tax rate in a community.) The paper shows that it is not in general possible using a priori theory to predict the sign (positive or negative) of the effect of either of these forms of zoning on aggregate land value in a community. It is shown, however, that under plausible assumption it can be argued that zoning as currently practiced in many U. S. communities probably has the effect of lowering aggregate land values in the communities doing the zoning.

Public policy toward low income housing and filtering in housing markets

Abstract The article presents a model of a housing market in which dwelling units are constructed for relatively high income families and then gradually become available to lower income groups as they depreciate in quality and price. Assumptions are made concerning values for the parameters of the model, and the model is then solved using numerical methods. Alternative possible policies for increasing the housing consumption of the poor are simulated in the model.

Optimal Policy When Effects on Distribution are Uncertain

The paper addresses the question of whether a government seeking to maximize a social welfare function should undertake a policy when it is known for sure that the efficiency effects of the policy are positive, but when the effects of the policy on the distribution of income are uncertain. The principal conclusion of the paper is that the existence of efficiency gains in such a situation is not, in general, sufficient to guarantee that such a policy is optimal. In particular, the answer to the question posed in the paper is shown to depend, in part, on the degree to which society is risk-loving or risk-averse with regard to uncertain changes in the distribution of income.