Nutrition, Food Assistance, & Poverty

The IRP-USDA Research, Innovation, and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Program (formerly Small Grants)
The Wisconsin Food Security Project
IRP Publications on Nutrition, Food Assistance, & Poverty
National Database of RIDGE Project Summaries

The IRP-USDA Research, Innovation, and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Program (formerly Small Grants)

Since 1999, the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture have sponsored a competition that provides small grants for research on poverty and food assistance programs. Three or four grants are offered for research during the academic year. Funded projects are discussed at a spring workshop convened by IRP at which investigators receive feedback and guidance to prepare their final work at a fall conference at ERS in Washington, DC.

Examples of projects funded for research include the effects of the Food Stamp Program on weight gained by expectant mothers; the effect of changes in the food stamp caseload induced by welfare reform on the quantity and quality of food consumption and prevalence of obesity; measuring the impacts of stigma and time cost in the decision to enroll in the Food Stamp Program; and the effects of school feeding programs and maternal employment on children’s meal and activity patterns.

The Wisconsin Food Security Project

The Wisconsin Food Security Project provides up-to-date county and state-level information about food security, economic well-being, and the availability and use of public and private programs to increase access to affordable and nutritious foods. Using the Project's Web site, users can create customized food security profiles for any county in Wisconsin. IRP affiliate Judi Bartfeld and UW Extension Specialist Kadi Row are principal investigators for the project.

IRP Publications on Nutrition, Food Assistance, & Poverty

For a more exhaustive list of IRP publications on this topic, please search the IRP Publications Database.

Income Volatility and Food Insufficiency in U.S. Low-Income Households, 1992-2003
Neil Bania and Laura Leete

n this paper we investigate changes in monthly income volatility in low-income households in the United States since the early 1990s, as well as the relationship between that volatility and food insufficiency. Drawing on data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we examine whether negative income shocks increase the chances that a household experiences food insufficiency. (DP 1325-07)

Growing Up Poor and Childhood Weight Problems
Haiyong Liu

This paper investigates the impact of growing up in poverty on the risk of childhood weight problems. Understanding the effect of family income on childhood weight problems is important, but has been hindered by the potential endogeneity of family income. We use matched mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to study the effects of growing up poor on risks of childhood overweight and underweight, accounting for unobserved heterogeneity that governs both children's weight and family income. (DP 1324-07)

Does Greater Exposure to WIC Affect Maternal Behavior and Improve Infant Health? Evidence from the Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System
Ted Joyce and Cristina Yunzal

Recent analyses have reached differing conclusions on how effectively the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) improves infant health. We use 1996-2003 data from North Carolina's Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System to address limitations in previous work. (DP 1323-07)

Food Stamps and Food Insecurity: What Can Be Learned in the Presence of Nonclassical Measurement Error?
Craig Gundersen and Brent Kreider

Policymakers have been puzzled to observe that food stamp households appear more likely to be food insecure than observationally similar eligible nonparticipating households. We reexamine this issue allowing for nonclassical reporting errors in food stamp participation and food insecurity. Extending the literature on partially identified parameters, we introduce a nonparametric framework that makes transparent what can be known about conditional probabilities when a binary outcome and conditioning variable are both subject to nonclassical measurement error. (DP 1321-07)

Why Did the Food Stamp Caseload Decline (and Rise)? Effects of Policies and the Economy
Caroline Danielson and Jacob Alex Klerman

Since 1990, the Food Stamp Program caseload has varied widely--rising sharply in the early 1990s, dropping sharply in the late 1990s, and then rising again in the early 2000s. We estimate the effect of welfare and food stamp policy changes, as well as the changing economic climate, on the total caseload and on two of its components (DP 1316-06)

The Changing Association between Prenatal Participation in WIC and Birth Outcomes in New York City
Ted Joyce, Diane Gibson, and Silvie Colman

The authors use information on over 800,000 births to women on Medicaid in New York City from 1988 to 2001. They focus on measures of fetal growth distinct from preterm birth and restrict the primary analysis to women on Medicaid who have no previous live births and who initiate prenatal care within the first four months of pregnancy. Their findings suggest that prenatal participation in WIC has had a minimal effect on adverse birth outcomes in New York City. (DP 1301-05)

An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis of the Rise in the Prevalence of the U.S. Population Overweight and/or Obese
Andrew Cook and Beth Osborne Daponte

Using data from the National Health Interview Survey for years spanning 1976 to 2001, this paper presents an age-period-cohort analysis of weight gain throughout the life cycle. While all ages experienced an increase in the proportion overweight and/or obese (PO&O), the PO&O of young adults has grown at a faster rate than that of older age groups. The increase in PO&O is a phenomenon experienced by all demographic groups in the United States. (DP 1296-05)

A Cautionary Tale: Using Propensity Scores to Estimate the Effect of Food Stamps on Food Insecurity
Christina M. Gibson-Davis and E. Michael Foster

The authors use propensity scores to evaluate the effect of Food Stamps on food insecurity, a measure of inadequate food supply. They find that the program does not decrease the probability of being food insecure, but it may lessen the severity of the problem. They also note that propensity scores rest on several stringent assumptions and should be employed with caution. (DP 1293-05)

Food Hardships and Child Behavior Problems among Low-Income Children
Kristen Shook Slack and Joan Yoo

Using data from two waves of a panel study of families who currently or recently received cash welfare benefits, we test hypotheses about the relationship between food hardships and behavior problems among two different age groups (458 children ages 3-5-and 747 children ages 6-12). Results show that food hardships are positively associated with externalizing behavior problems for older children, with internalizing behavior problems for older children, and with both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems for younger children, but these effects are mediated by parental characteristics. (DP 1290-04)

Medicaid at Birth, WIC Take-Up, and Children's Outcomes
Marianne Bitler and Janet Currie

Children aged 1 to 4 are the most rapidly growing part of the WIC caseload, and little information is available about the effects of WIC on this group. Using data from the 1996 and 2001 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this research shows that increases in the generosity of Medicaid toward older children increased WIC eligibility without having much impact on participation. The most striking finding is that WIC participation at age 4 has large and significant effects on the probability that a child is at risk of being overweight, suggesting that either the nutrition education or the actual provision of healthy food is helping to prevent obesity among young children. (DP 1286-04)

The Role of Food Assistance Programs and Employment Circumstances in Helping Households with Children Avoid Hunger
N. S. Kabbani and M. Yazbeck

Households with children in the United States are more likely to experience food insecurity than households with no children. However, households with children are less likely to experience hunger. This finding suggests that food insecure households with children may be drawing on personal and/or public resources to help them avoid hunger. We use data from the April Food Security Supplements of the Current Population Survey to evaluate the role of federal food assistance programs in helping households with children avoid hunger. (DP 1280-04)

Who Exits the Food Stamp Program after Welfare Reform?
Colleen M. Heflin

This paper estimates the effects of work and welfare receipt on the probability of exiting the Food Stamp program, using four waves of the Women's Employment Study. (DP 1279-04)

Exploring the Influence of the National School Lunch Program on Children
Rachel E. Dunifon and Lori Kowaleski-Jones

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 1998-1999 Kindergarten Cohort, the study examines two research questions: What are the effects of participation in the National School Lunch Program on changes in children's behavior, test scores, and body weight? Do these effects differ by gender? The project provide insights into the role of the program in influencing child health, academic well-being, and social development. (DP1277-04)

National Database of RIDGE Project Summaries