USDA Economic Research Service Briefing Room
" "  
Link: Bypass USDA Left navigation.
Search ERS

Browse by Subject
Diet, Health & Safety
Farm Economy
Farm Practices & Management
Food & Nutrition Assistance
Food Sector
Natural Resources & Environment
Policy Topics
Research & Productivity
Rural Economy
Trade and International Markets
Also Browse By


or

""

 


 
Briefing Rooms

Food Assistance and Nutrition Programs: Research Funding Opportunities

Strengthening Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs

Commodity Supplemental Food Program: Participation and Administration
Kenneth Finegold
The Urban Institute. Washington, DC

This project will combine administrative data with telephone interviews in nine States and field work at eight sites to assess how the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) fits into States’ overall designs to address food insecurity among target populations, how States administer the program, why some States choose not to participate, who among the eligible population tend to participate, and expectations for the future of the CSFP.
Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $210,000

The Processes of Getting and Staying on Food Stamps in South Carolina
David Ribar
George Washington University. Washington, DC

Using administrative data for South Carolina, the project will examine how household Food Stamp Program (FSP) policies such as recertification intervals, time limits for able bodied adults without children, and outreach activities affect decisions to apply, the length of stay on the program, and decisions to exit the program. The study will focus on how these policy effects differ across various household types, including those with and without earnings, as well as according to the number of adults, the presence of elderly adults, and the presence of children.
Cooperative Research Agreement: $200,000

Evaluation of State Food Policy Changes as Incentives To Foster Improved Middle School Lunch Selection and Consumption
Karen Cullen
Baylor College of Medicine. Houston, TX

This study will examine how well recent Texas school food policy changes act as incentives to improve middle school students’ food selection and consumption from various school sources, including the National School Lunch Program, snack bars, and vending machines. A new Texas school policy targeting all school food environments takes effect during the 2005-06 school year, and data obtained from students in three schools during that period will be compared with data from the 2001-02 and 2002-03 school years.
Grant: $149,085

Effective Tax Rates and Guarantees and Food Stamp Program Participation
James Ziliak
University of Kentucky. Lexington, KY

Concern has arisen about possible work-disincentive effects of Food Stamp Program rules that impose high effective tax rates on families choosing to increase their work effort and about program actions that effectively reduce the level of program guarantees. The rules in question reduce actual benefits from cash transfers and the Food Stamp Program. This study will examine the impact of these effective tax rates and guarantees on household food stamp participation decisions, conditional on other macroeconomic, demographic, and policy factors. The analysis will be based on administrative data combined with national survey data for 1983-2003.
Cooperative Research Agreement: $100,000

Determinants of the Food Stamp Caseload
Jacob Klerman
RAND. Santa Monica, CA

This study will examine the determinants of the large drop in the Food Stamp caseload in the 1990s and large rise in the mid-2000s. State-level panel data constructed from the Food Stamp Program Quality Control administrative data from 1990 to 2004 will be used. The analysis will consider the separate effects of Food Stamp Program policy, welfare policy, and the economy.
Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $125,000

back to table

Food Choices, Diet Quality, Obesity, and Health Outcomes

Food Insecurity and Outcomes for Infants and Toddlers in the ECLS-B
Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew
Child Trends. Washington, DC

The subject of this study is the association between food insecurity and a variety of health, nutrition, motor development, cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes for infants and toddlers. Researchers will determine how the associations and pathways differ based on characteristics of children and their families, including birth weight, income, parental nativity, and participation in food assistance programs. The study will use data from the 9- and 24-month waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B).
Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $200,000

Economic Determinants of School Meal Participation
Ashlesha Datar
RAND. Santa Monica, CA

This project will examine the factors associated with variations in participation in USDA’s school meals programs at both the school and individual level, with particular emphasis on how participation varies with local food prices. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) will be combined with contextual data on local area food prices, and on neighborhood and school district characteristics. Researchers will use the data to examine the neighborhood, school, family, and individual characteristics associated with elementary school children’s participation in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.
Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: $199,971

 

Food Assistance as a Safety Net

Household Food Security and Tradeoffs in the Food Budget: A Revitalized Engel Approach Including Food Stamps
Parke Wilde
Tufts University. Boston, MA

This project will model and analyze the relationship between Food Stamp Program benefits, household spending decisions for food consumed at home and away from home, and the implications of those decisions for household food security. The empirical analysis will use data from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement and the Food Stamp Program Quality Control system files for years 2001-2004.
Cooperative Research Agreement: $75,000

 

 

back to table
See awards from all years

 

For more information, contact: Victor Oliveira

Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov

Updated date: October 28, 2005