美国安全网在过去二十年对物质匮乏的影响

中文摘要

我们探讨许多政策辩论的核心问题：美国安全网的效果如何？现有许多研究孤立地评估某一项目对经济困难的影响，尽管家庭通常同时参与多个项目。我们利用1992—2011年收入与项目参与调查（SIPP）数据，分析同时参与TANF、SNAP或Medicaid/SCHIP三个项目对一组具有内在重要性的结果——物质匮乏的测度——的影响。我们发现，有子女的中低收入家庭对这三个安全网项目中任一项目的参与率提高10个百分点，会使其平均匮乏项数减少0.11（弹性为−0.41），食物不足发生率降低1.7个百分点（弹性为−1.27）。这一分析表明，若没有现行安全网项目，美国的匮乏现象将更为普遍。

Abstract

We address a question at the center of many policy debates: how effective is the US safety net? Many existing studies evaluate the effect of one program on economic hardship in isolation, though families typically participate in multiple programs. Using 1992–2011 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, our analyses examine the simultaneous effect of participation in three programs, TANF, SNAP, or Medicaid/SCHIP, on a set of outcomes of intrinsic importance—measures of material hardship. We find that a 10 percentage point increase in participation in any of these three safety net programs by low-to-moderate income families with children reduces their average number of hardships by 0.11 (−0.41 elasticity), and the incidence of food insufficiency by 1.7 percentage points (−1.27 elasticity). This analysis suggests that hardship would be even more prevalent in the United States without the existence of the current safety net programs.