Timing of SNAP Disbursement and Crime Incidence in the United States
Presented by:
Licheng Xu
Practice Job Talk
Agricultural & Applied Economics
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
12:00 pm-1:30 pm
Taylor-Hibbard Seminar Room (Rm103)
Online - https://go.wisc.edu/esfdvx
Welfare payment helps combat poverty and hunger, which potentially contributes to the reduction of financially motivated crimes. Taking the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as an example, this study explores whether and how the timing of food assistance distribution affects crime incidence. Using an extensive incident-based crime dataset from reporting police agencies in 36 states during 2000- 2017, I estimate the reduced-form effect of staggering SNAP benefit disbursement across recipients on crime incidence. The empirical result suggests a significantly lower incidence of financially motivated crimes (robbery and burglary in particular) when the state-level SNAP disbursement schedule incorporates more distribution days and a longer staggering period (the number of days between the first and last distribution date). I also find evidence for effect heterogeneity by policy stringency and population density. Additionally, county-level analysis suggests that reduced severity of food insecurity may be the mechanism through which staggered SNAP benefit distribution helps lower crime incidence. On the other hand, the incidence of emotion-driven crimes, such as property destruction cases, is not much affected by the timing of SNAP benefit disbursement. The findings of this study point to an extended SNAP disbursement schedule with more distribution days to deter instrumental crimes.
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