RESEARCH

A quarter of the US population participate in some form of public nutrition assistance program such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Women Infants and Children (WIC), or school meal programs.  While the literature has documented numerous benefits associated with participation in these programs, little work has been done to understand the impact of losing program eligibility—either because the program rules change or the household’s situation changes. This paper is the first to address the causal relationship between shocks in the availability of public nutrition assistance and low-income households’ private nutrition assistance utilization. In particular, we examined the way in which loss of WIC benefits when children age-out of WIC eligibility impact a household utilization of private food assistance.  Using a regression discontinuity analysis framework, we found that households significantly increased utilization of private nutrition assistance following a negative shock in the availability of public nutrition assistance. Estimates indicated that some households might have been able to compensate 50 – 80 percent of their loss in public WIC nutrition assistance by increasing the frequency of utilization of private nutrition assistance.

Network Expansion and Utilization of Private Nutrition Assistance

Work in Progress

Although private nutrition assistance programs can potentially compensate for the loss of public nutrition assistance, certain type of households often failed to utilize private nutrition assistance when they lost public nutrition assistance. One possibility is that some low-income households were sensitive to the traveling costs of utilizing these programs, and the costs were unusually high for some households. In this study, I exploited the expansion of Community Distribution Partners (CDPs) of Crossroads Community Service (CCS) to investigate if the reduction of travel costs improved low-income households’ utilization of private nutrition assistance. Using a Spatial Donut Model to distinguish treatment and control groups, I found that when a new distribution site was established, households living close to it significantly increased utilization of private nutrition assistance by 4.4 percentage points.living farther from this CDP site.

The Food Security Consequence of Mandated Employment Verification

Work in Progress

E-verify mandate laws, which require employers to verify new employees’ identity and eligibility to work, have many potentially unintended consequences. Evidence shows that mandatory employment verification hit retail and grocery sector especially hard. In this study, I investigated the impact of E-verify mandate laws on the food security status of both citizens and non-citizens. I found that mandatory employment verification had no significant effects on household income, but have a negative impact on the food security status for impacted households.

Does Public Transportation affect Private Nutrition Assistance Usage? Evidence from the Expansion of DART Stations

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Authors: Zeyu Zhang, Xia Si, Tammy Leonard

Work in Progress

Public transportation is an important way for low-income households to acquire assistance. We investigated the effect of the expansion of DART station in Dallas on low-income households' frequency of utilizing private nutrition assistance. Using a spatial Difference in Difference model, we found that households significantly increased their frequency of utilizing private nutrition assistance after a DART station was established close to their residence.

Utilizing behavioral economics to understand adherence to physical activity guidelines among a low-income urban community

Published 2015, Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Authors: Kerem Shuval, Xia Si, Binh Nguyen, Tammy Leonard

Behavioral economics studies have found that individuals with more patient time preferences are more likely to save money. Although research has observed significant relationships between time preferences and health-promoting behaviors, scant evidence exists with physical activity as an outcome.

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We examined the association between monetary saving behaviors and physical activity among adults of low-income who reside in an urban community. Specifically, we assessed the relationship between saving behaviors (checking/saving account, monthly savings, and planning family finances), and future orientation to physical activity as a dichotomous (meeting guidelines) and continuous (total and domain specific) endpoint.

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In multivariable regression, being future-oriented and having a checking/saving account were related to a 1.3 and 2.1 times higher (respectively) likelihood of meeting physical activity guidelines (P < .05). When examining physical activity continuously, all measures were significantly related to leisure-time activity (P < .05).

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Our study findings establish a relationship between future time preferences and increased levels of physical activity among low-income adults. Future research should prospectively explore the efficacy of various schemes that help individuals overcome impatient time preferences to determine a causal relationship.