The Effect of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Food Expenditures Among Low-Income HouseholdsIntroductionThe Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Formerly Called the Voucher Program food, is designed to help improve the nutritional status of low-income households in the United States. The SNAP program has grown significantly in recent years: the SNAP program budget increased from $37.6 billion in 2008 to $79.86 billion in 2013; and the number of program participants increased from 28.2 to 47.64 million (USDA, 2014). These figures demonstrate an average annual increase of 11% in the number of participants and 17% in the program budget over the period, well above the corresponding average annual increase rates of 6% and 10% for the period. six years previous (2002-2008). ).The effectiveness of the SNAP program in increasing recipients' food expenditures is an issue of considerable policy interest and has received considerable attention in the economic literature. However, beyond food expenditures, little research examines the effects of SNAP participation on non-food expenditures. The focus on estimating the effect of SNAP participation on food expenditures only was justified by the intent of SNAP to improve household nutritional needs; however, the program may also affect spending on non-food items through the reallocation of funds. Estimates of the effects of SNAP benefits on nonfood expenditures (e.g., marginal propensity to consume) are important in assessing the economy-wide impacts of program reductions or increases (see e.g. Kuhn et al., 1996). Therefore, this study examines the impact of the SNAP program on the distribution of food and nonfood expenditures among six subgroups: food, ...... middle of paper ...... ; Stewart and Yen, 2004). Another variable taken into account in the study is the general economic situation of the country. Two significant economic recession events are considered during the study period. The first event occurs between 2000 and 2001 and the second event occurs between December 2007 and January 2010 (Kuma and Kaufman, 2011). Therefore, the dummy variable for the periods 2000–2001 and 2008–2009 is used to capture the economic recession. We limited our sample to a subsample of data with a higher probability of being eligible for SNAP participation. Only households whose gross income is less than 130% of the poverty line were taken into account for the analyzes (Meyerhoefer and Pylypchuk, 2008). The calculation of the poverty line was performed using the 1998-2009 poverty guidelines published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).).