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Title: Essays on the Effects of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Adult Obesity
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Almada, Lorenzo Nicolas
Essays on the Effects of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Adult Obesity
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, Georgia State University, 2014
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Data Quality/Consistency; Food Stamps (see Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program); Geocoded Data; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Modeling, Instrumental Variables; Obesity; State-Level Data/Policy; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps); Underreporting

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The first essay expands on previous work examining the effects of SNAP participation on adult obesity. Previous research provides some evidence that SNAP participation may have a small positive effect on weight gain for women and no significant effect on men. However, additional research has found that misreporting of SNAP participation in surveys is prevalent and that analysis of program effects when participation is misclassified (misreported) can produce estimates that are biased and misleading. Until now, nearly all studies examining the effects of SNAP on adult obesity have ignored the issue of respondent misreporting. This chapter uses state-level policy variables regarding SNAP administration to instrument for SNAP participation for NLSY79 respondents. To address respondent misreporting I adopt an approach based on parametric methods for misclassified binary dependent variables that produces consistent estimates when using instrumental variables. This study is the first to document the considerable rates of SNAP participation under-reporting in the NLSY79 dataset. In addition, this study finds that, although SNAP participation increases adult BMI and the likelihood of being obese, without correcting for misreporting bias the estimates are overstated by nearly 100 percent.

The second essay takes a different approach to investigate the intensive margin effects of SNAP on adult obesity. To mitigate the severity of endogenous participation and misreporting biases, I employ a strategy that examines only individuals who report participating in SNAP. I utilize a quasi-experimental variation in SNAP amount per adult due to the timing of school eligibility for children. The identification examines intensive margin changes SNAP benefits due to changes in household composition. This study finds that increases in SNAP benefits available to adults actually reduce BMI and the probability of being severely obese.

Bibliography Citation
Almada, Lorenzo Nicolas. Essays on the Effects of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Adult Obesity. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, Georgia State University, 2014.