Sliding into Safety Net Participation: A Unified Analysis across Multiple Programs

Arbeitspapier

Recipients of government transfers are economically disadvantaged, yet little is known about how their circumstances evolve leading up to program receipt. Using twenty-five years of survey data as well as administrative health records, we establish three new stylized facts around enrollment in the largest safety net programs in the United States. While our focus is on SNAP, Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance, the patterns generalize to nine major programs. First, market incomes decline around enrollment in almost all studied programs. Second, employment rates decline around program receipt and remain lower after receipt, with these patterns coinciding in part with increased disability and worse health. Third, spousal separations begin to increase prior to program enrollment, even for programs without mechanically related eligibility requirements. Taken together, these analyses provide a comprehensive and identically measured look across programs to demonstrate that households "slide" into safety net participation through multiple pathways.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 16564

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
• Thema: social insurance ; means-tested transfers ; welfare ; program receipt

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Wu, Derek ; Zhang, Jonathan
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2023

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/282691
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ