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Inside the War on Poverty: The Impact of the Food Stamp Program on Birth Outcomes

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Inside the War on Poverty: The Impact of the Food Stamp Program on Birth Outcomes

Almond, Douglas, Hilary Williamson. Hoynes, and Diane Schanzenbach. "Inside the War on Poverty: The Impact of Food Stamps on Birth Outcomes." Review of Economics and Statistics, May 2011, Vol. 93, No. 2: 387-403.

Abstract

This paper evaluates the health impacts of a signature initiative of the War on Poverty: the introduction of the modern Food Stamp Program (FSP). Using variation in the month FSP began operating in each U.S. county, we ﬁnd that pregnancies exposed to FSP three months prior to birth yielded deliveries with increased birth weight, with the largest gains at the lowest birth weights. We also ﬁnd small but statistically insigniﬁcant improvements in neonatal mortality. We conclude that the sizable increase in income from FSP improved birth outcomes for both whites and African Americans, with larger impacts for African American mothers.