To estimate how incentives that encourage healthy eating among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants impact intra-monthly variation in fruit and vegetable spending.

We used transaction data from three Alabama grocery stores participating in a programme that offered dollar-matching coupons for fresh produce. For each store, we calculated daily spending on fresh produce out of SNAP benefits and daily incentive coupon redemptions. We compared total daily spending on fresh produce and daily coupon redemptions on days over which SNAP benefits are distributed in Alabama with spending and redemption on days at the end of the month with no SNAP distribution.

SNAP and incentive transactions in three Alabama grocery stores.

SNAP participants purchasing fruit and vegetables April 2023–July 2023.

Daily spending with SNAP on produce dropped by 38% at the end of the month. Incentive coupon redemption did not significantly drop at the end of the month. The share of total SNAP spending going to fresh fruits and vegetables increased by two percentage points and the share of fresh fruits and vegetables spending coming from redemptions increased by ten percentage points at the end of the month.

SNAP households may use incentive coupons to smooth drops in produce consumption at the end of the month. These findings also highlight trade-offs inherent in different delivery mechanisms for SNAP incentives.

To estimate the effect of the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on the food security (consistent access to adequate food) of recipients, net of the effect of the self-selection of more food-needy households into the programme.

The food security of current SNAP recipients and recent leavers is compared in cross-sectional survey data, adjusting for economic and demographic differences using multivariate logistic regression methods. A similar analysis in 2-year longitudinal panels provides additional control for selection on unobserved variables based on food security status in the previous year.

Household survey data collected for the US Department of Agriculture by the US Census Bureau.

Households interviewed in the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplements from 2001 to 2009.

The odds of very low food security among households that continued on SNAP through the end of a survey year were 28 % lower than among those that left SNAP prior to the 30-d period during which food security was assessed. In 2-year panels with controls for the severity of food insecurity in the previous year, the difference in odds was 45 %.

The results are consistent with, or somewhat higher than, the estimates from the strongest previous research designs and suggest that the ameliorative effect of SNAP on very low food security is in the range of 20–50 %.