1. Addressing Food Insecurity in the United States
Craig Gundersen
University of Illinois
Soybean Industry Endowed Professor of Agricultural Strategy, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics

2. Reasons for Looking at Food Insecurity
Serious consequences
in own right
negative health outcomes
Not completely characterized by income
The central goal of USDA is to alleviate food insecurity

3. Measurement

4. Defining Food Insecurity
A household’s food insecurity status is based on responses to 18 questions in the Core Food Security Module (CFSM)
Examples of questions:
“I worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more”
“Did you or the other adults in your household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food”
“Were you ever hungry but did not eat because you couldn’t afford enough food”
“Did a child in the household ever not eat for a full day because you couldn’t afford enough food”
Categories
food insecure if have 3 or more affirmative responses
very low food security among children if have 5 or more affirmative responses to child-specific questions

6. Overall food-insecurity rates

7. CHILD food-insecurity rates

8. Determinants

9. Determinants of Food Insecurity
Resources
Lower incomes
Low levels of education
Not a homeowner
Being unemployed
Not receiving child support
Lack of access to social capital
Declines in asset levels
Non-working teenagers

10. Determinants of Food Insecurity
Household structure
Having someone with a disability in the household
Being in a single-parent household
Immigrants in household
Having a non-custodial father who does not visit regularly
Older children
More children
Not having a grandparent in the household
Having a grandchild in the household
Changes in household composition

11. Determinants of Food Insecurity
Race/ethnicity
Household head is non-Hispanic black
Household head is non-Hispanic
Household head is American Indian
Other
Having a parent who was every incarcerated
Lack of financial management skills
Being at high risk of homelessness
Summertime
Not speaking English in the home
Having a cigarette smoker in the home
Changes in residence
Declines in child health
Declines in mental health

12. Health Outcomes

13. Health Consequences Associated with Food Insecurity
Children
birth defects
anemia
lower nutrient intakes
cognitive problems
aggression and anxiety
being hospitalized
being in poorer general health
having asthma
behavioral problems
depression
worse  oral health
Adults
lower nutrient intakes
mental health problems
diabetes
hypertension
hyperlipidemia
poor outcomes on health exams
being in poor or fair health
poor sleep  outcomes
depression
having limitations in activities of daily living

14. Food Insecurity and Health Care Costs
What is the impact of food insecurity on health care costs?
Does this differ by severity of food insecurity?
Data from Canada
matched administrative records from Ontario health care system with food security survey information
67,033 observations between 18 and 64
difficult to do for U.S.
selection issue
lack of health care information to be matched with survey data
Results
differences in health care costs when compared to individuals in fully food secure households
marginally food insecure: 23% higher
moderate food insecure: 49% higher
severely food insecure: 121% higher

15. Food Assistance Programs

16. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Primary goal is to alleviate hunger
USDA issues food stamps to families (via Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards) which can be used in retail food outlets
Benefit levels
function of income and family size
maximum benefit level is $688 for a family of four
average benefit level is about $300 for a family of four
Size of program
serves over 42 million persons
total cost is about $70 billion per year
Eligibility criteria
gross income test
net income test
asset test

17. SNAP Does it reduce labor supply? What is the extent of fraud in SNAP?
there are no “cliff effects”
no studies have found recipients work less
may want to reduce “tax” associated with SNAP benefit levels
What is the extent of fraud in SNAP?
redeeming benefits for cash at retailers
very difficult to do with EBT system
most benefits redeemed at reputable retailers
selling benefits to others
have to give PIN to do this
more difficult to enforce
error rates in benefit distribution
less than 5 percent
need to recognize trade-offs with this

18. Does SNAP Participation Lead to Higher Probabilities of Obesity?
Theoretical perspective
Ambiguous
Common Sense Perspective No
Consistent with descriptive evidence
Empirical evidence from credible studies
Some evidence that will lead to declines

19. Likely Direct Consequences of Restrictions
Fall in participation among eligible households
Increases in stigma
SNAP participants singled out as irresponsible
one of the justifications from USDA for denying waiver requests
more signaling in checkout lines that SNAP participant
Increases in transactions costs
need to ascertain whether or not a product is eligible
smaller stores likely to stop accepting SNAP

20. Likely Direct Consequences of Restrictions
Redirection of federal resources
Make decisions on over 300,000 food products
needs to be done on recurring basis
Need to enforce new laws
prosecution of stores
prosecution of individuals
Higher costs to consumers
UPC codes do not have relevant information
each item would have to be individually coded
especially expensive to smaller store
Labelling of products as eligible (or ineligible)

21. Likely Indirect Consequences of Restrictions
Higher rates of food insecurity
Fewer SNAP participants
strong effect of SNAP in reducing food insecurity
Higher food costs
Gregory et al. (2013)
Increased medical care costs
Worse health outcomes due to increases in food insecurity (Gundersen and Ziliak, 2015)
Higher health care costs associated with food insecurity (Trasuk et al., 2015)
No impact on obesity

22. National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
Serves over 30 million children every day during the school year
Expected to have a positive impact on the well-being of children
lunch is provided
guidelines imposed
Eligibility Criteria
income
free if household income is less than 130% of the poverty line
reduced price (40 cents) if household income is between 130% and 185% of the poverty line
full price if household income is above 185% of the poverty line
must attend a school with NSLP

23. Paths to Improving Food Assistance Programs
SNAP
What are effective ways to increase participation?
Who do we especially need to reach?
How can transactions costs be reduced?
Consider removing portions of the application process that are least likely to lead to fraudulent reports
Increase recertification periods
How can the benefit formula be improved?
Increase of $15 billion
lead to 55% decline in food insecurity among SNAP participants with children
School Meal Programs
How can these be expanded to reach children over the summer?
How should the competing demands of children of different income levels be met?