TY - JOUR
T1 - Program Recertification Costs
T2 - Evidence from SNAP†
AU - Homonoff, Tatiana
AU - Somerville, Jason
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Participants in means-tested programs must periodically document eligibility through a recertification process. If all cases that fail recertification are ineligible, the exact timing of this process should be irrelevant. We find that later recertification interview assignments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which leave less time to reschedule missed interviews, decrease recertification success by 22 percent. The consequences of not recertifying due to later interviews are highly skewed: most cases quickly reenroll, while one-quarter remain off SNAP for over a year. The marginal disenrolled case is as needy as the average participant, suggesting inefficient screening from late interviews.
AB - Participants in means-tested programs must periodically document eligibility through a recertification process. If all cases that fail recertification are ineligible, the exact timing of this process should be irrelevant. We find that later recertification interview assignments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which leave less time to reschedule missed interviews, decrease recertification success by 22 percent. The consequences of not recertifying due to later interviews are highly skewed: most cases quickly reenroll, while one-quarter remain off SNAP for over a year. The marginal disenrolled case is as needy as the average participant, suggesting inefficient screening from late interviews.
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U2 - 10.1257/pol.20190272
DO - 10.1257/pol.20190272
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124156593
SN - 1945-7731
VL - 13
SP - 271
EP - 298
JO - American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
JF - American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
IS - 4
ER -