Research Advisor: Professor Joel Cuffey, Auburn University, cuffey@auburn.edu
Recent changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) may make it more difficult for households to access the program, potentially leading to increases in hunger in the US. One major change to SNAP is that individual states may have to start paying significant portions of SNAP benefits, instead of benefits being paid all by the federal government. This could incentivize states to find ways to reduce the number of households on SNAP. Whether and how much a state will need to contribute towards SNAP benefits is determined by the “payment error rate”. This project will investigate how the SNAP payment error rate has changed over time, and what state governments can do to reduce this rate. Students will also generate insights on expected impacts to food insecurity and hunger in the US. Students will gain experience collecting, managing, and organizing data, and will use their findings to write a publicly-available policy brief.
