Date Thesis Awarded

5-2024

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Economics

Advisor

John Parman

Committee Members

Peter McHenry

Alexandra Joosse

Abstract

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the leading anti-hunger government assistance program in the United States. Included in SNAP is an 80 hour per month work requirement on Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs), designed to counteract the work disincentives that are inherent to the program’s means-tested nature. In this paper, I leverage a two-way fixed effects triple differences model and ample variation in the policy’s implementation from temporary waivers in high-unemployment areas to estimate the ABAWD work requirement’s effects on low-income ABAWDs’ food security and work outcomes. I find that the work requirement is associated with substantial increases in work indicators like job searching, employment, and full-time work in the short and long run, but at the cost of modestly higher incidences of food insecurity in the short run.

Recommended Citation

Cronin, Thomas, "The Effects of SNAP’s ABAWD Work Requirement on Food Security and Work Outcomes" (2024). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 2183.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/2183