Kelsey Pukelis
Research
Academic Publication
Employed in a SNAP? The Impact of Work Requirements on Program Participation and Labor Supply (with Colin Gray, Adam Leive, Elena Prager, and Mary Zaki)
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2023, 15(1): 306-341.
Abstract: Work requirements are common in U.S. safety net programs. Evidence remains limited, however, on the extent to which work requirements increase economic self-sufficiency or screen out vulnerable individuals. Using linked administrative data on food stamps (SNAP) and earnings with a regression discontinuity design, we find robust evidence that work requirements increase program exits by 23 percentage points (64 percent) among incumbent participants. Overall program participation among adults who are subject to work requirements is reduced by 53 percent. Homeless adults are disproportionately screened out. We find no effects on employment, and suggestive evidence of increased earnings in some specifications.
Media Coverage: Business Insider, Civil Eats, The Indicator from Planet Money, Kellogg Insight, Marketplace [1], [2], [3], Newsweek, Policy Impacts, Vox's The Weeds, Washington Post
Policy Impact: Cited in a Congressional Testimony, CMS decision letters [1], [2]
Working Papers
SNAP Policies and Enrollment following the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract: Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic provide a unique opportunity to understand the effects of a more generous and accessible U.S. safety net. This paper investigates the importance of policy changes versus economic conditions in explaining caseload and denial surges following COVID-19 in the context of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the U.S.’ largest food assistance program. I compile a new dataset on state policy waivers, including unprecedented flexibilities in application and recertification procedures and increases in benefit amounts (Emergency Allotments). In contrast to prior periods, policies—rather than business cycle changes—drove enrollment increases. Among all policies examined, emergency supplemental benefits and recertification waivers policies increased caseloads more than policies that simplified applications and recertifications. Descriptive evidence suggests that application denial rates increased both because recertification waivers cut off the typical flow of approved applications from otherwise churning cases and because relatively higher income households were more likely to apply.
Stigma and Social Safety Net Program Participation (with Alice Heath and Michael Holcomb)
Abstract: Negative social judgements or “stigma” about the receipt of government benefits may discourage participation and impose costs on those already receiving benefits. But who experiences stigma, how it affects participant decisions, and whether it can be reduced remain unclear. In this paper, we use a nationally representative survey experiment to measure levels of stigma across social groups and test whether interventions intended to alleviate stigma may affect participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the U.S.’ largest, means-tested food assistance program. We find that our interventions have polarizing effects: they increase stigma among Republicans and current SNAP participants and decrease stigma among Democrats and non-participants. One intervention that dismantles a common zero-sum concern (that receiving benefits would prevent others from receiving them) increases take-up among eligible non-participants, as measured by completing an online eligibility screener. However, all our interventions decrease support for SNAP spending among Republican respondents. Our findings indicate the importance of both social norms and political orientation for influencing participation in government transfer programs in this context.
Pre-Registration with the American Economic Association's registry for randomized controlled trials.
The Impacts of Online Grocery Shopping with SNAP
Abstract: Many anti-poverty programs are in-kind rather than cash, and adoption of new technologies can affect program access for participants (the demand side) and potential profits for third-party vendors (the supply side). In this paper, I investigate the growth of online purchasing with public food vouchers across food retailer markets and its effects on low-income consumers (SNAP and Pandemic EBT users). Relative to stores authorized to accept benefits in-person, stores authorized for online purchases were more likely to be large retailers and to be located in advantaged neighborhoods, suggesting that retailers did not target online shopping toward low food access areas (food deserts). Then, using quasi-experimental spatial variation, I find that exposure to online purchasing shifted some benefit spending from in-person to online but had no detectable effect on SNAP enrollment. This project describes a drastic change to the delivery of nutrition assistance programs and has implications for other in-kind benefit programs.
Research Papers in Progress
Dynamic Enrollment in Transfer Programs: Evidence from Disaster SNAP (with Laura Blount Carper)
Abstract: When facing economic hardship, households often turn to public benefits programs. Does taking up benefits today make a household more likely to take them up in the future? We investigate these questions by embarking on the first systematic, mixed-methods study of the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP), which provides benefits for qualifying households to purchase food following a natural disaster. We collect county-level information on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster declarations, including the subset of events where D-SNAP benefits were issued. Types of disasters resulting in D-SNAP issuance include hurricanes, floods, winter storms, tornadoes, and wildfires. In the quantitative component, we use this exogenous source of exposure to public benefits to estimate impacts on long-run SNAP enrollment and other outcomes. The qualitative component will include interviews and surveys with program participants and administrators to understand mechanisms, including individual learning, group learning, and levels of stigma.
Generously supported by the Harvard Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy's Qualitative Research Grant program.
Automatic Enrollment in Transfer Programs (with Claire Leroy)
Abstract: Relative to a setting where households must apply to access government benefits, automatic enrollment policies pose a potential solution to incomplete take-up among eligible households. However, governments may face challenges in implementing auto-enrollment policies for financial, logistical, and political reasons, thereby dampening their potential reach and effectiveness. In this paper, we examine and conceptualize how governments administer automatic enrollment in the context of targeted transfer programs. First, we describe the prevalence of these policies in high-income countries and categorize their characteristics. Second, we outline a conceptual framework for quantifying their welfare effects, including the key role of administrative costs. Finally, we apply this framework to evaluate the welfare effects of auto-enrollment (Direct Certification) in the context of U.S. free and reduced price school meals.
The Health Impacts of SNAP Work Requirements (with Bradley Katcher)
Abstract: SNAP work requirements for childless adults intend to encourage work, but recent studies show that they have no large impacts on employment and decrease access to benefits. Since the population of adults subject to work requirements faces barriers to work and their eligibility for other benefit programs is limited, SNAP work requirements may affect health and well-being outcomes, with indirect costs borne by governments and healthcare providers. In this project, we study how work requirements and subsequent loss of SNAP benefits affect the health and healthcare utilization of able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) using anonymized, linked administrative data from South Carolina. To estimate causal effects, we use a natural experiment from the reinstatement of work requirements in 2016 for affected adults aged 18 to 49; older adults and those with children were not affected and serve as comparison groups. This study will investigate the fiscal externalities of safety net provision through health and public healthcare expenditures.
Policy Writing
Public comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service's Proposed Rule: "Establishing the Summer EBT Program and Rural Non-Congregate Option in the Summer Meal Programs." August 27, 2024.
Public comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service's Proposed Rule: "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Program Purpose and Work Requirement Provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act." June 14, 2024.
- Response in Final Rule
Public comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service's Proposed Rule: "Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children: Online Ordering and Transactions and Food Delivery Revisions to Meet the Needs of a Modern, Data-Driven Program." May 25, 2023.
The Conversation article: "SNAP work requirements don’t actually get more people working – but they do drastically limit the availability of food aid." April 28, 2023.
Blog post for the Harvard Kennedy School's Project on Workforce (with Antoinette ‘Toni' Gingerelli and Priscilla Liu): "Challenges and Opportunities: Workforce Development for Behavioral Health 'Peer Support Workers.'" July 29, 2022.