Op-Ed: “From the Mouths of Babes”

Op-Ed: Paul Krugman, From the Mouths of Babes, N.Y. Times, May 30, 2013 [Responding to conservative attacks on food stamps.]

New Article: “Promoting Economic Security among Low Income Families in the United States: The Effects of Food Stamps on Labor Supply, Income, and Poverty”

New Article: Udaya R Wagle, “Promoting Economic Security among Low Income Families in the United States: The Effects of Food Stamps on Labor Supply, Income, and Poverty,” National Poverty Center Working Paper (2012). Abstract below:

Using a combination of family level micro data and state level macro indicators, this analysis examines roles of the Food Stamps Program (FSP) in promoting economic security during 2004 and 2007 in the United States. To account for endogeneity and self-selection bias likely in models of labor supply, income, and poverty using survey data, panel data models are estimated by instrumenting FSP receipts with TANF receipts at the family level and FSP participation rate at a broader geographic level as instruments. While substantiating the widely recognized work disincentive effects of FSP, results support its income-enhancing effects on one hand and poverty-increasing effects on the other. These seemingly contradictory results affirm that FSP supports are typically inadequate to make a significant dent on economic insecurity of ‘poor’ families even though they help promote economic security among low income but ‘non-poor’ families.

(Somewhat dated) News Coverage: “Even Critics of Safety Net Increasingly Depend on It”

News Coverage: Binyamin Appelbaum & Robert Gebeloff, Even Critics of Safety Net Increasingly Depend on It, New York Times, Feb. 11, 2012.  Includes a great interactive graphic.  See also the letters to the editor that the article generated, here.

New Article: “Low Income Families’ Utilization of the Federal “Safety Net”: Individual and State-Level Predictors of TANF and Food Stamp Receipt”

New Article: Kelly M. Purtell, Low Income Families’ Utilization of the Federal “Safety Net”: Individual and State-Level Predictors of TANF and Food Stamp Receipt, National Poverty Center Working Paper Series #12-04 (Jan. 2012).

Upcoming Conference: 2012 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference, Feb. 26-28, Washington, DC

Upcoming Conference: 2012 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference, Feb. 26-28, Washington, DC

Quick Guide: “How To Get Food Help”

Quick Guide/Brochure perhaps of interest to clinic intake centers and others: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, How To Get Food Help (2011).  Related powerpoint.  More info here.

-Thanks to Francine Lipman for the heads up!

Grant RFP on Childhood Food Security

The Research Program on Childhood Hunger was established at the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR) in September 2010 with funding from the Food and Nutrition Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The co-directors of this initiative are Dr. Craig Gundersen, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, and Dr. James Ziliak, Gatton Chair in Microeconomics at the University of Kentucky and Director of UKCPR.

In this program we seek to develop a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of why children experience very low food security in the United States. To this end UKCPR will competitively award grants to qualified individuals and institutions to provide rigorous research that expands our understanding of hunger among children in the United States and the attendant policy implications.  Total anticipated funding under this mechanism is $2.45 million across four large grants at $500,000 each and six small grants at $75,000 each.

Letters of intent are due January 25, 2011, and full proposals are due March 10, 2011.  The full RFP is available at: 
http://www.ukcpr.org/Childhood_Hunger_RFP.pdf
.  Please direct administrative questions to Ms. Mary Boulton at ukcpr@uky.edu.

-Thanks to the National Poverty Center at the Univ. of Mich. for the heads up.

Paternalistic Op-Ed on Food Stamps and Soda

 

Cheers! (Or Not!)

 

Op-Ed of interest and perhaps good for class discussion: Thomas Farley & Richard F. Daines, No Food Stamps for Sodas, New York Times, Oct. 7, 2010.

UPDATE: my letter to the editor regarding this op-ed was published today.

N.Y. Times Article: “India Asks, Should Food Be a Right for the Poor?”

News article of interest: Jim Yardley, “India Asks, Should Food Be a Right for the Poor?” Aug. 8, 2011.

New Conference: “Developing Food Policy: U.S. & International Perspectives” April 16-17, 2010 at Yale

Conference: “Developing Food Policy:  U.S. & International Perspectives” sponsored by Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal and the Community Economic Development Clinic at Yale will be held April 16-17, 2010 at Yale Law School.