The Disenrollment and Labor Supply Effects of SNAP Work Requirements
Amid growing efforts to expand work requirements in U.S. transfer programs, new proposals target parents of young children, despite limited evidence of efficacy for this population. We provide the first modern causal estimates of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) work requirements on parents using linked administrative data. Parents do not increase their work, but are much less likely to receive SNAP, undermining SNAP’s ability to reach the neediest households. The structure of these policies enables us to tease apart mechanisms and we conclude that administrative burdens imposed by work requirements are the key driver of this disenrollment effect.
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