Kenneth Hanson

Data, Linkages and Models: U.S. National Income and Product Accounts In the Framework of a Social Accounting Matrix

In policy analysis, there is a continuing tension and interplay between issues, models and data. Issues and models have changed in recent years, and there is a need for evolution in the underlying economy-wide economic data base. We discuss accounting frameworks for integrating micro-survey data with macro-data from the national economic accounts. We take a modelers perspective, arguing that new accounts are needed to support policy modeling. We discuss in detail the use of a social accounting matrix (SAM). A SAM provides a data framework which reflects an actor/transaction view of the economy and supports disaggregated economy-wide modeling. We discuss the relationship between a SAM and the existing national economic accounts for the USA, including the national income and product accounts and the input–output accounts.

How Economic Conditions Affect Participation in USDA Nutrition Assistance Programs

This study, based on 1976-2010 data, examines the relationship between U.S. economic conditions and participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s five largest nutrition assistance programs. It also describes how changes in program policy and other factors may have influenced this relationship. The five programs are: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Although SNAP’s reputation as one of the Nation’s primary counter-cyclical assistance programs—expanding during economic downturns and contracting during periods of economic growth—is well established, there has been little analysis of the effect of the economy on the other programs. The results of this study strongly suggest that, to varying degrees, economic conditions influence participation in all the major nutrition assistance programs, not just in SNAP.

Rising Food Prices Take a Bite Out of Food Stamp Benefits

The Food Stamp Program is designed to provide low-income families with increased food purchasing power to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet. As in most other Federal Government assistance programs, benefits are adjusted in response to rising prices—in this case, rising food prices. The current method of adjustment results in a shortfall between the maximum food stamp benefit and the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet as specified by USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan. During fiscal year (FY) 2007, the food purchasing shortfall in the caseload-weighted maximum benefit for the program grew from

The Distributional Effects of U.S. Textile and Apparel Protection

7 in October 2006 to

Globally Convex Agricultural Production System: Parameter Estimation

19 in September 2007. In FY 2008, the amount grew from almost

SECTORAL EFFECTS OF A WORLD OIL PRICE SHOCK: ECONOMYWIDE LINKAGES TO THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

8 in October 2007 to

Policy Watch: The Food Stamp Program and Welfare Reform

34 in July 2008 and to

Economic Linkages Between the WIC Program and the Farm Sector

38 in September 2008. In an average month, food stamp households faced shortfalls of over

Tracing The Impacts Of Food Assistance Programs On Agriculture And Consumers: A Computable General Equilibrium Model

2 in FY 2003,

The Food Stamp Program and Welfare Reform

12 in FY 2007, and