An APPAM Forum Co-Sponsored by Abt Associates

Rethinking Food Assistance Policy: New Experimental Evidence on Improving Food Security and Nutrition among Low-income Families and Implications for Policy

February 2, 2016
The University Club of Washington, D.C.

1135 16th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

The nation’s low-income food assistance programs, including the Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and child nutrition programs, have twin goals: alleviating hunger and improving nutrition. Beginning in 2010, the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture funded two large random assignment evaluations of pilot food assistance programs: the Healthy Incentive Pilot (HIP) and the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children Demonstration (SEBTC). Findings from the evaluations build on the existing body of research and provide insights into the fundamental behavioral and policy design questions for SNAP and other federal food assistance programs. How much does food assistance increase food expenditures and improve food security? For improving nutrition, what is the effectiveness of rebates and/or limiting choice of foods?

The forum will present and discuss findings and new analysis from these evaluations and other research to provide insights on how the nation’s food assistance programs can do more to alleviate hunger and improve nutrition among low-income families.

Featured speakers will include:

Chair: Melissa Abelev, Assistant Deputy Administrator, Office of Policy Support, USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Tim Beatty, Associate Professor, Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis
Danielle Berman, Social Science Research Analyst, USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Sandra Black, Member, White House Council of Economic Advisers
Stacy Dean, Vice President for Food Assistance Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Robert Doar, Morgridge Fellow in Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Tracy Fox, President, Food, Nutrition & Policy Consultants
Philip Gleason, Director, Human Services Research Senior Fellows, Mathematica Policy Research
Joanne F. Guthrie, Research Nutritionist, Food Economics Division, Economic Research Service, USDA
Ron Haskins, co-director, the Brookings Center on Children and Families
Jacob Klerman, Principal Associate and Senior Fellow, Abt Associates and Editor, Evaluation Review
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research and Associate Professor, Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University
Parke Wilde, Associate Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University

February 2, 2016 The University Club of Washington, D.C.

February 2, 2016
The University Club of Washington, D.C.