The Impact of Food Stamp Program on Relative Food Consumption and Food Choices

In this paper, the effects of the Food Stamp (FS) Program (now referred to as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-SNAP) on individuals’ food choices are evaluated. In other words, I examine how households' food choice or relative food consumption is changed by FS participation. For this purpose six food groups are created using 2016 Consumer Expenditure Diary Survey (CEDS) results and Consumer Price Index (CPI). Five of these food groups are food consumed at home which are bakery products, dairy products, meat and meat products, vegetables, and others. Also food consumed away from home is included as sixth group. Multinomial probit and conditional logit models are applied to analyze the data set. The analyses results show that FS can change individuals' food choices by decreasing the price effect on food since FS is a kind of income transfer which subsequently affects participants' price sensitivity. In addition, the results show that FSusage may increase the relative meat consumption of households and food consumed away from home in comparison to other food groups.