Does the Food Stamp Program Really Increase Obesity? The Importance of Accounting for Misclassification Errors

Vassilopoulos, Achilleas and Drichoutis, Andreas and Nayga, Rodolfo and Lazaridis, Panagiotis (2011): Does the Food Stamp Program Really Increase Obesity? The Importance of Accounting for Misclassification Errors.

Abstract

Over the last few decades, the prevalence of obesity among US citizens has grown rapidly, especially among low-income individuals. This has led to questions about the effectiveness of nutritional assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamps Program (FSP). Results from previous studies generally suggest that FSP participation increases obesity. This finding is however based on the assumption that participants do not misclassify their program participation despite significant misclassification errors reported in the literature. Using propensity score matching and a new method to conduct extensive sensitivity analysis, we conclude that this finding is sensitive to misclassification errors above 10% and to the conditional independence assumption.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: matching estimators; sensitivity analysis; food stamps; obesity
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C6 - Mathematical Methods ; Programming Models ; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling > C63 - Computational Techniques ; Simulation Modeling; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General

References

Abadie A, Drukker D, Herr JL, Imbens GW. 2004. Implementing Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects in Stata. Stata Journal 4: 290-311.

Abadie A, Imbens GW. 2006. Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects. Econometrica 74(1): 235-267.

Angrist J, Pischke J-S. (2010). The Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics: How Better Research Design Is Taking the Con out of Econometrics, National Bureau of Economic Research.

Baum C. (2007). The Effects of Food Stamps on Obesity,The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Economic Research Service (ERS).

Bitler MP, Currie J, Scholz JK. 2003. Wic Eligibility and Participation. Journal of Human Resources 38: 1139-1179.

Black DA, Smith JA. 2004. How Robust Is the Evidence on the Effects of College Quality? Evidence from Matching. Journal of Econometrics 121(1-2): 99-124.

Bollinger CR, David MH. 1997. Modeling Discrete Choice with Response Error: Food Stamp Participation. Journal of the American Statistical Association 92 (439): 827-835.

Bray GA. 2004. Medical Consequences of Obesity. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 89(6): 2583-2589. 10.1210/jc.2004-0535

Brookhart MA, Schneeweiss S, Rothman KJ, Glynn RJ, Avorn J, Stürmer T. 2006. Variable Selection for Propensity Score Models. American journal of epidemiology 163(12): 1149-1156.

Chen Z, Yen ST, Eastwood DB. 2005. Effects of Food Stamp Participation on Body Weight and Obesity. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 87(5): 1167-1173.

Cutler DM, Glaeser EL, Shapiro JM. 2003. Why Have Americans Become More Obese? Journal of Economic Perspectives 17(3): 93-118.

Ejerblad E, Fored CM, Lindblad P, Fryzek J, McLaughlin JK, Nyren O. 2006. Obesity and Risk for Chronic Renal Failure. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 17(6): 1695-1702. 10.1681/asn.2005060638

Esposito K, Giugliano F, Di Palo C, Giugliano G, Marfella R, D'Andrea F, D'Armiento M, Giugliano D. 2004. Effect of Lifestyle Changes on Erectile Dysfunction in Obese Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 291(24): 2978-2984.

Gibson D. 2003. Food Stamp Program Participation Is Positively Related to Obesity in Low Income Women. Journal of Nutrition 133(7): 2225-2231.

Grundy SM. 2004. Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, and Cardiovascular Disease. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 89(6): 2595-2600. 10.1210/jc.2004-0372

Harel O. 2007. Inferences on Missing Information under Multiple Imputation and Two-Stage Multiple Imputation. Statistical Methodology 4(1): 75-89.

Heckman J, Navarro-Lozano S. 2004. Using Matching, Instrumental Variables, and Control Functions to Estimate Economic Choice Models. Review of Economics and Statistics 86(1): 30-57.

Hill A, Roberts J. 1998. Body Mass Index: A Comparison between Self-Reported and Measured Height and Weight. Journal of Public Health 20(2): 206-210.

Ichino A, Mealli F, Nannicini T. 2006. From Temporary Help Jobs to Permanent Employment: What Can We Learn from Matching Estimators and Their Sensitivity? CEPR Discussion Paper 5736.

Ichino A, Mealli F, Nannicini T. 2008. From Temporary Help Jobs to Permanent Employment: What Can We Learn from Matching Estimators and Their Sensitivity? Journal of Applied Econometrics 23(3): 305-327.

Kaushal N. 2007. Do Food Stamps Cause Obesity? Evidence from Immigrant Experience. Journal of Health Economics 26(5): 968-991.

Lakdawalla D, Philipson T, Bhattacharya J. 2005. Welfare-Enhancing Technological Change and the Growth of Obesity. American Economic Review 95(2): 253-257.

Meyer BD, Goerge R, Hall C. (2010). The Analysis of Food Stamp Program Participation with Matched Administrative and Survey Data,University of Chicago Working Paper.

Millimet DL, Tchernis R. 2009. On the Specification of Propensity Scores: With Applications to the Analysis of Trade Policies. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics 27: 397-415.

Philipson TJ, Posner RA. 2003. The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 46.

Papoutsi GS, Drichoutis AC, Nayga JRM. 2012. The Causes of Childhood Obesity: A Survey. Journal of Economic Surveys: 10.1111/j.1467-6419.2011.00717.x

Roberts RJ. 1995. Can Self-Reported Data Accurately Describe the Prevalence of Overweight? Public Health 109(4): 275-284.

Rosenbaum PR, Rubin DB. 1983. The Central Role of the Propensity Score in Observational Studies for Causal Effects. Biometrika 70(1): 41-55.

Rosenbaum PR, Rubin DB. 1985. Constructing a Control Group Using Multivariate Matched Sampling Methods That Incorporate the Propensity Score. American Statistician 39(1): 33-38.

Rosin O. 2008. The Economic Causes of Obesity: A Survey. Journal of Economic Surveys 22(4): 617-647.

Rubin DB. 1987. Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.

Rubin DB. 2003. Nested Multiple Imputation of Nmes Via Partially Incompatible Mcmc. Statistica Neerlandica 57(1): 3-18.

Rubin DB, Thomas N. 1996. Matching Using Estimated Propensity Scores: Relating Theory to Practice. Biometrics 52(1): 249-264.

Shen Z. (2000). Nested Multiple Imputation,Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

Stuart EA. 2010. Matching Methods for Causal Inference: A Review and a Look Forward. Forthcoming in Statistical Science.

Van der Steeg JW, Steures P, Eijkemans MJC, Habbema JDF, Hompes PGA, Burggraaff JM, Oosterhuis GJE, Bossuyt PMM, van der Veen F, Mol BWJ. 2007. Obesity Affects Spontaneous Pregnancy Chances in Subfertile, Ovulatory Women. Human Reproduction 23(2): 324-328.

Ver Ploeg M, Mancino L, Lin B-H, Michele Ver Ploeg LM, Lin. (2007). Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs and Obesity: 1976-2002,USDA.

Whitmer RA, Gunderson EP, Barrett-Connor E, Quesenberry CP, Yaffe K. 2005. Obesity in Middle Age and Future Risk of Dementia: A 27 Year Longitudinal Population Based Study. BMJ 330(7504). 10.1136/bmj.38446.466238.E0